In July 2008, Judge Stanford Blake in the Circuit Court of Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit held a hearing on the motion of the Dade County Public Defender, who asked that his lawyers be excused from appointments in all felony cases, except capital cases, in Miami’s 21 felony courtrooms. The public defender argued that underfunding of his office had led to excessive caseloads, and that his lawyers could not ethically or legally accept additional non-capital felonies. On September 3, 2008, the trial court judge ruled substantially in favor of the public defender’s position, declaring that the public defender would be excused from having to accept appointments to all class C felonies, though appointments to class A and B felonies would continue. The court reasoned that excessive caseloads interfered with public defenders' ability to comply with the Florida Rules of Professional Conduct and their constitutional obligations. The court ordered the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel for the Third District to represent the affected indigent defendants.

The State appealed. In May 2009, the Third District Court of Appeal of Florida reversed the trial court and quashed Judge Blake's order. The District Court of Appeal held that the public defender was required to prove prejudice or conflict, separate from excessive caseload, on an individual basis to be relieved of duty to represent indigent defendants.

The Florida Supreme Court accepted review and consolidated this case with State v. Bowens, 39 So.3d 479 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010), where the Public Defender had challenged the constitutionality of a Florida statute excluding excessive caseload as a ground for attorney withdrawal. The Florida Supreme Court quashed the Third District Court of Appeal's decision. The court held that the Public Defender had demonstrated cause for withdrawal due to excessive caseloads. The court remanded the case for the trial court to determine if the circumstances still warranted granting the Public Defender's motion to decline appointments in future third-degree felony cases under the standards approved in its decision.

Elena Malik - 03/10/2020


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