La. sued for failure in legal aid
The lawsuit is just the opening shot of a war, backed by powerful legal interests, against the state's public-defender system.
Public defenders swamped, suit says
Prisoners, poor face long wait for lawyers
Louisiana is the only state in the country to rely on revenue from traffic tickets and other citations, which can be an unreliable source of money, as a way to pay for indigent defense, according to the legal aid report.
About $9 million from the state general fund is given to the Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board, which doles out the money around the state. Another $23 million or so is raised through court costs at the local level, said Edward Greenlee, executive director of the board.
That amount is considered relatively low when compared to other states. For example, Kentucky also spends about $30 million on public defenders, but it has only about 30 percent of the number of cases Louisiana public defenders handle annually.
