MISSOURI STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR 

 

August 2, 2016

The Honorable Jay Nixon
Governor of Missouri

PO. Box 720

Jefferson City, Missouri 65102

Dear Gavernor Nixon:

Seven years age, your ef?ce yeteed Senate Cemmittee Substitute for Senate Ne. 37, which wentd have
preaided easeiead reiief ta an everburdened pubiie defender system, in denying that reiief, yea
acknowledged that MSPD was operating ?under signi?cant stresses? and committed to working with the
General Assembly to ?x the problem, but never did.

Instead, you have repeatedly cut funding for an indigent defense system that continues to rank 49?h in the
U.S., with a budget that the consumer price index indicates has less value now than it did in 2009. After
cutting $3.47 million from public defense in 2015, you now cite ?scal discipline as reason to again restrict
budget, this time by However, and despite claims that revenues are considerably less than
expected, you did not restrict a single dollar from your own budget, and the average withhold from l2 of
your executive agencies does not even add up to one half of one percent 

This action comes even after the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice found that poor black
children are being systematically deprived of their rights in Missouri due in large part to the lack of public
defenders. Choosing in the wake of that report to further debilitate the very organization that ensures an
equal system of justice only adds to the escalating sentiment that the poor and disenfranchised do not receive
a fair shake in Missouri?s criminal justice system.

As Director of the Public Defender System, I can only hire attorneys when I have the funding to do so.
Because you have restricted that funding, MSPD must hold a signi?cant number of vacant positions open
to have the necessary funds to make it through the ?scal year, a task which is exacerbated by a 12% increase
in cases over the year prior. To avoid having to close one or more of?ces, the remaining option is to consider
the use of Section 600.042.5, which gives the Director of the Public Defender System the authority to
?[d]elegate the legal representation of any person to any member of the state bar of Missouri.?

As of yet, I have not utilized this provision because it is my sincere belief that it is wrong to reassign an
obligation placed on the state by the 6th and 14th Amendments to private attorneys who have in no way
contributed to the 'Current crisis. However, given the extraordinary circumstances that compel me to
entertain any and all avenues for relief, it strikes me that I should begin with the one attorney in the state
who not only created this problem, but is in a unique position to address it.

 

Letter to Governor Nixon
August 2, 2016
Page 2

Therefore, pursuant to Section 600.0425 and as Director of the Missouri State Public Defender System
tasked with carrying out the State?s obligation to ensure that poor people who face incarceration are afforded
competent counsel in their defense, 1 hereby appoint you, Jeremiah W. (Jay) Nixon, Bar No. 29603, to enter
your appearance as counsel of record in the attached case.

Very truly yours,

 

Michael Barrett 
Director

Attachment

cc: The Honorable Patricia Joyce
Presiding Judge
19th Judicial Circuit Court

Dawnel Davidson
Cole County Circuit Clerk
19?h Judicial Circuit Court

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