STATE OF MINNESOTA BOARD OF PUBLIC DEFENSE 'REPORT ON PUBLIC DEFENDER REIMBURSEMENTS FY 2006

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1 STATE OF MINNESOTA BOARD OF PUBLIC DEFENSE 'REPORT ON PUBLIC DEFENDER REIMBURSEMENTS FY 2006 January, 200

2 CITATION Minnesota Statutes requires the State of Minnesota Board of Public Defense to report annually on the collection and disbursement of public defender reimbursements. After consultation with the staff at the Minnesota Supreme Court it was determined that some of the variables outlined for reporting in M.S are not available. Minnesota Statues.1 requires the reporting of the cost of report preparation. Staff time was minimal in preparing this report and as a result there were no production costs. BACKGROUND Minnesota Statutes Subd. 2 authorizes the trial court to direct those public defender clients who are able to pay at least part of their defense costs to do so. Prior to July 1, 1 the first $180,000 of public defender reimbursements were deposited in the general fund of the State of Minnesota, as a non-dedicated receipt. The Board of Public Defense, in direct proportion to the total receipts from each Judicial District, retained receipts in excess of $180,000. Due to the uncertain nature of this funding, expenditures were limited to one-time expenses. The vast majority of this funding has been used to provide training for public defenders (Continuing Legal Education Credits) In the 18 Legislative Session M.S was amended to direct all reimbursements to the Board of Public Defense. Funds retained under this provision are to be used to offset the overhead costs of part time assistant public defenders. Each Judicial District Public Defender Office receives all of the reimbursements ordered and collected by the Court in their respective Judicial District. Reimbursement payments are made to part time assistant public defenders on a quarterly basis. The amount that each attorney receives depends on the amount collected, and the number of part time defenders in the Judicial District. FY 2006 PUBLIC DEFENDER CASE TOTALS During FY 2006 employees of the Board of Public Defense opened approximately 16,12 cases. The break down by Judicial District is as follows: FIRST DISTRICT SECOND DISTRICT THIRD DISTRICT FOURTH DISTRICT FIFTH DISTRICT SIXTH DISTRICT SEVENTH DISTRICT EIGHTH DISTRICT NINTH DISTRICT TENTH DISTRICT- TOTAL 1,146 21, 11, 4,80,1 8,64 16,8,1 1,6 2,20 16,12

3 The following is the break down of reimbursements received by county for the year FY 2006 REIMBURSEMENTS 2 COUNTY DISTRICT REIMBURSEMENTS AITKIN ANOKA BECKER BELTRAMI BENTON BIG STONE BLUE EARTH BROWN CARLTON CARVER CASS CHIPPEWA CHISAGO CLAY CLEARWATER COOK COTTONWOOD CROW WING DAKOTA DODGE DOUGLAS FARIBAULT FILLMORE FREEBORN GOODHUE GRANT HENNEPIN HOUSTON HUBBARD $10 $1,8 $,184 $6 $6,04 $1,02 $22,6 $8,284 $,42 $1,2 $1,60 $2,84 $2,16 $14, $16 $42 $,16 $61 $,844 $ $2, $400 $6,26 $2,128 $11 $80 $248 $,4 $6

4 ISANTI 10 $2,42 ITASCA $2,28 JACKSON $,02 KANABEC 10 $1,6 KANDIHOYI 8 $1, KITTSON $20 KOOCHICHING $18 LAC QUI PARLE 8 $20 LAKE 6 $80.LAKE OF WOODS $1,8 LE SUEUR 1 $10, LINCOLN $2,14 LYON $,622 MAHNOMEN $6 MARSHALL $0 MARTIN $10,8 MCLEOD 1 $8,102 MEEKER 8 $,68 MILLE LACS $1,2 MORRISON $2,2 MOWER $241 MURRAY $,41 NICOLLET $8,046 NOBLES $11,2 NORMAN $0 OLMSTED $8,41 OTTER TAIL $0,26 PENNINGTON $6 PINE 10 $1,4 PIPESTONE $4,68 POLK $2,001 POPE 8 $2,4 RAMSEY 2 $0 RED LAKE $10 REDWOOD $,22

5 " RENVILLE 8 $6,0 RICE $,16 ROCK $2,42 ROSEAU $400 SCOTT 1 $12, SHERBURNE 10 $100 SIBLEY 1 $8, ST LOUIS 6 $14,66 STEARNS $26,21 STEELE $1,66 STEVENS 8 $1,6 SWIFT 8 $,41 TODD $2,68 TRAVERSE 8 $124 WABASHA $0 WADENA $2,22 WASECA $1,28 WASHINGTON 10 $12,806 WATONWAN $4,114 WILKIN 8 $60 WINONA $10,26 WRIGHT 10 $42 YELLOW MEDICINE 8 $2,12 TOTAL $40,88 4 REIMBURSEMENTS PER CASE UNIT While the Court does not keep data on the number of cases where reimbursement is ordered, some inter-district comparisons can be made. As a unit of measure the Board uses a "case unit". The "case unit" is defined by the relative difficulty of the different types of cases as determined by the Board of Public Defense Weighted Caseload Study. A "case unit" equals the defense service that goes into the average misdemeanor case'~ Applying the "case unit" to the overall caseloads and reimbursements in each Judicial District Public Defender Office, yields the following reimbursement per case unit;

6 FY 2006 FY 2006 REIMBURSEMENTS DISTRICT CASE UNITS REIMBURSEMENTS PER CASE UNIT FIRST 28, $6, $2.2 SECOND,00 $0 $0.00 THIRD 21,616 $4,42 $2.11 FOURTH 102,4 $248 $0.00 FIFTH 16,46 $102, $6.21 SIXTH 16,01 $2,62 $1. SEVENTH 28,00 $10,2 $4.4 EIGHTH,82 $46,8 $4. NINTH 2,8 $11,2 $0.8 TENTH 46, $22,8 $0.4 TOTAL,0 $40,88 $1. PUBLIC DEFENDER REIMBURSEMENT AMOUNTS Based on the number of full time equivalent part time defenders thateach district has, the reimbursements collected, and the percentage of time the part time defender is employed, the following reimbursement amounts were paid out during fiscal year 2006: % TIME 0% TIME 2% TIME DISTRICT DEFENDER DEFENDER DEFENDER FIRST $2,21 $1,48 $0 SECOND $4 $ $1 THIRD $2,88 $1,8 $2 FOURTH $0 $0 $0 FIFTH $6,80 $4,6 $2,2 SIXTH $1,084 $2 $61 SEVENTH $,2 $2,482 $1,241 EIGHTH $2,6 $1,88 $1 NINTH $82 $88 $14 TENTH $686 $4 $22 *In the Second Judicial District Criminal Defense Services, Inc., appears on behalf of working defendants who have limited funds to hire an attorney. ** The Fourth Judicial District Public Defender Office does not currently have any part time attorneys employed by the State of Minnesota.