CNN iReport

On the morning of the day after Easter 2008, a judge read the following statement aloud to the prisoners in Boone County felony circuit court prior to beginning proceedings. ... You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford one, in some special cases one will be appointed for you. This took place in Courtroom 2A at the Boone County Courthouse in Northern Kentucky. I witnessed this event quite shocked at this new development in civil rights. Denying an attorney except in special cases is not my interpretation of Amendment 6 of the U.S. Constitution.

Two months ago, again in felony circuit court in Kenton County Kentucky, I observed preliminary hearings. The hearings were prior to referring cases to a grand jury for consideration. A normal procedure would be for the police to read charges followed by attorney questioning for details. I witnessed two black men charged with alleged illegal copies of CD's found in their possession after a traffic stop. The two men said they needed a public defender. The judge said the papers showed them as having a job. One of the men said the papers were not accurate, that he had no job and needed an attorney. The judge said he would have to hire one and ordered the defendents to take their seat alone at the defence table. Prior to beginning proceedings, she warned them not to speak, that anything they said could be used against them. The hearing proceeded with the officer reading aloud his report and ended with the case being referred to the grand jury.

A local defence attorney active in the state capitol in working to get fair laws passed told me that Kentucky has resorted to this due to budget shortfalls. They were over budget last year and rather than increasing this year's budget to cover the shortfall they have instead cut it. One no longer has the right to a defense in Kentucky if one cannot afford it. Even if a public defender is assigned, each defender has 400+ cases and does not have time to provide for an adequate defense.

This story is posted late because I just discovered ireport last week. I will in the future be more prompt in reporting.