Defenders debut new service award

A teenager killed a neighbor in front of her preschooler.

A woman was accused of killing her four children when they were babies and a third person killed a young woman during a fight in a drug deal gone wrong.

These were among prisoners attorney Abbe Smith agreed to represent, years after their convictions.

She told a packed hall Saturday at the 2014 Defense Community Dinner that most people accused and convicted of a crime are poor. A disproportionate number are nonwhite. She said the stunning news is that more people are now under the control of the criminal justice system than were enslaved in 1850.

Smith is a professor of law, director of the Criminal Defense & Prisoner Advocacy Clinic and co-director of the E. Barrett Prettyman Fellowship Program at Georgetown University. She notes in an essay, which her speech was based upon, that she became a criminal lawyer after reading the book “To Kill a Mockingbird” and seeing the movie.

Smith said she likes representing guilty people, those who have committed crimes for a variety of reasons, but are not evil. She recognizes they are flawed human beings and believes in their humanity and said she can find the person behind the crime.

Smith also said prosecutors have too much power and can be smug and punishments harsh. She said the United States locks up more people than any other nation on Earth and for longer periods of time.

She is often asked how she can represent “those” people and responds asking how can she not? Smith said more criminal defense lawyers are needed and, as Barbara Babcock notes in a criminal justice article, “Defending the Guilty,” the criminal justice system and legal profession would be better off if more lawyers did criminal work.

Babcock is Judge John Crown professor of law, emerita, at Stanford Law School.

The event included the presentation of awards including the Jeffrey A. Jacobs Memorial Award to attorney Lawrence L. Kasperek (Easton Thompson Kasperek Shiffrin LLP) and the Award for Excellence in Indigent Adult Representation in Family Court to Assistant Public Defender Adele Fine, who was featured in a story in The Daily Record on Friday.

A new award this year, the Monroe County Public Defender’s Office’s Service of Justice Award was given to the Monroe County Pre-Trial Services Corp., a not-for-profit organization supported by the county, state Division of Probation and Correctional Alternatives, STOP-DWI and the state Division of Parole.

“We created the award because there are numerous groups of individuals in the criminal justice system who aren’t necessarily attorneys who are vital to the criminal justice system in making sure that our system is just and fair,” said Monroe County Public Defender Timothy P. Donaher. “We see that these agencies often go unrecognized and we thought it would be appropriate to create an award.”

Donaher said he cannot overstate the importance of pre-trial services to the criminal justice system, noting they interview clients and make release recommendations to the judge so clients who should not be incarcerated are not.

Pre-Trial Services Corp. Executive Director Craig NcNair said he was humbled and very appreciative of the honor.

“We provide a spectrum of services I think impact the county in a lot of ways,” he said. “We work with defendants. We’re trying to help provide equal justice in our community. I think we provide good services for defendants who often don’t have a voice. Our agency strives very hard to provide appropriate interventions and supervision to help ensure public safety. The staff works really hard and it’s nice to be recognized for their efforts.”

Donaher said the agency probably saves the county millions of dollars and saves thousands of people the trauma of being incarcerated unnecessarily while waiting for trial, allowing them to maintain employment, stable family relationships and stay in school.

He said there is direct correlation between defendants who are able to obtain release while their case in pending and the greater likelihood they will be able to assist in their own defense, which leads to better outcomes.

In addition, the county realizes savings through less jail overcrowding and fewer people on welfare rolls or needing public benefits.

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