Mississippi Says Poor Defendants Must Always Have a Lawyer. Few Courts Are Ready to Deliver.

ProPublica, July 5, 2023: Mississippi Says Poor Defendants Must Always Have a Lawyer. Few Courts Are Ready to Deliver.

“In April, the Mississippi Supreme Court changed the rules for state courts to require that poor criminal defendants have a lawyer throughout the sometimes lengthy period between arrest and indictment. The goal is to eliminate a gap during which no one is working on a defendant’s behalf.

“That mandate went into effect Saturday. But few of the state’s courts have plans in place to change their procedures in a way that is likely to accomplish what the justices intended.

“A survey of courts by the Daily Journal, ProPublica and The Marshall Project found that some local court officials are unaware of the new rule. Others have not decided how they will respond. Some officials suggested that their current practice of appointing lawyers only for limited purposes will fulfill the new requirement, even though those attorneys do little beyond attending early court hearings.

“That reporting suggests that impoverished defendants in many Mississippi counties are likely to remain deprived of meaningful legal assistance as they wait, often in jail, for prosecutors to decide whether to pursue felony charges.

“‘There’s really not a plan,’ said Chuck Hopkins, a judge in a county-level justice court in northeast Mississippi’s Lee County. He fears that if officials don’t come up with one, the court could be ‘hung out there waiting for a lawsuit to happen.’”

Additional reading:

ProPublica, April 14, 2023: Some Are Jailed in Mississippi for Months Without a Lawyer. The State Supreme Court Just Barred That.

MacArthur Justice Center, January 12, 2021: Thousands Stuck in Mississippi Jails with High Bail and No Lawyer: Duane Lake Was Incarcerated for Six Years Before Getting His Day in Court – Then He Was Found Not Guilty

Sixth Amendment Center, March 2018: The Right to Counsel in Mississippi: Evaluation of Adult Felony Trial Level Indigent Defense Services