Some interesting discussion is happening over on MetaFilter[1]. The uninformed opinion is that this is a great publicity stunt, but probably won't stand as the Governor is technically the head of prosecution and would therefore have a conflict of interest with every case.<p>1: <a href="http://www.metafilter.com/161399/Missouri-governor-appointed-as-a-public-defender-to-an-indigent" rel="nofollow">http://www.metafilter.com/161399/Missouri-governor-appointed...</a>
It's a publicity stunt but it's brilliant. Public defender realities are grotesque, and people that can't afford a private attorney get hosed by default.<p>John Oliver covered this crisis recently: <a href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=USkEzLuzmZ4" rel="nofollow">https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=USkEzLuzmZ4</a>
I had a quick look at the budget [0] and it would seem the public defender office has a larger budget [2016 $40m] than prosecution [2016 $35m]. Wouldn't a fair defence system have a similar budget to the prosecution? It would seem that they use about 157 FTEs more in the defence than prosecution.<p>Granted I don't exactly know how these departments are layout but I thought that without a prosecutor you don't need a defence. So a 1:1 ratio would seem about fair, and being overwhelmed would be a case of inefficiencies in one department compared to another.<p>[0] <a href="https://oa.mo.gov/sites/default/files/FY_2016_Executive_Budget_Download.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://oa.mo.gov/sites/default/files/FY_2016_Executive_Budg...</a>
I feel bad for the poor person that is at the receiving end of this lawsuit. Don't forget somewhere, there is an actual human being that is facing very real consequences.<p>Giving all the racial issues Missouri has been facing... The lack of pd funding is terrible.
I'd think the smell test for whether he can serve is no different than if a state governor can serve jury duty. The requirements for impartiality are similar.<p>It looks like governors have served on jury duty as well<p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/06/10/even-governors-have-jury-duty/" rel="nofollow">https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/local/wp/2015/06/10/even...</a>
People are more than happy to have lot of laws and cheerfully fund the required law enforcement but when it comes to the requirement for public defenders to make the rest of the system work they just don't care for some reason.
Does anyone know if this section of Missouri law has ever been challenged under the Thirteenth Amendment's prohibition against involuntary servitude? It naively seems unlikely to me to survive. Or are there other precedents for forcing people to fill government roles?