The Elizabethtown-based public defender's office took a spot on the state's list of 16 offices considered to be critically overloaded in 2004.
The office, which serves Hardin, LaRue, Hart, Meade and Grayson counties, averaged 519 cases per attorney for the year. The critical level by Kentucky Department of Advocacy standards is 500. The Elizabethtown office has 10 attorneys.