This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2016, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Utah would have statewide oversight for public-defender services under a bill approved by lawmakers that funds and creates an indigent defense commission.
SB155 needs only the governor's signature to become law.. The bill is a response to criticism that Utah is failing its constitutional duty to provide legal help to people who can't afford it.
Utah is one of two states in the nation that delegate that responsibility to individual counties, which have had no state oversight to ensure they meet the Sixth Amendment obligation.
The commission will be responsible for collecting data, reviewing public-defender contracts, creating caseload guidelines and doling out money from a trust fund to counties that need it. Legislators appropriated $2 million to fund the commission.
The legislation is a result of four years of study by a state task force, which included hiring the Sixth Amendment Center to review the way the accused are being represented in Utah.
In October, the center released a report that found flaws in the system, including in justice courts, where over half of the 460,000 defendants in a year never received legal representation. The report also found that in district courts, where more people are receiving public defenders, "systemic deficiencies" prevent those attorneys from effectively advocating for their clients.
Other criminal justice-related bills passed include:
HB160 • Would require justice court judges in the five largest counties — Salt Lake, Utah, Davis, Weber and Washington — to be law school graduates, which is now not the case. Amendments exempted the state's 24 smaller counties.
HB405 • Would eliminate life-without -parole sentences for juvenile offenders.The maximum penalty that a Utahn under the age of 18 can face is an indeterminate prison term of 25 years to life.