Public Defenders: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

The Miranda warning includes the right to a public defender. It doesn’t include the fact that public defenders are highly overworked and grossly underpaid.

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[nikhartsfield]

"of course it was florida, how could it not be florida?!"
as someone who's spent most of their life in florida, i'd just naturally assumed that's where the fight happened, but it's nice to have some confirmation.

[EmisoraRadioPatio]

As a Public Defender, my life is miserable. I feel awful seeing my clients not get the representation they deserve. There's nothing more I can do because I have so many cases. I'm paid pennies for six-figure work. I'm proud that I am helping the defenseless, but I"m not sure how much longer I can do this.

[TenthElementGraphics]

Someone (that I know) stole my I.D. a few years back and then got busted with marijuana possession in Westminster Colorado. When the cops picked him up, he used my I.D. got ticketed in my name and released. Then when no one showed up to the court date a warrant was put out for my arrest. I spent 2 weeks in jail, went before a judge, and got a public defender. The public defender did everything he could to try and convince me to take a plea deal. When I told the public defender that it wasn't me, he started telling me stuff like "look, if you take a plea deal, I can probably get you released today. You'll serve 1 month incarcerated at the most." I told him again it wasn't me, he responded, "If you fight this, you're looking at up to 2 years. Do you want to spend 2 years in jail?" I told him again it wasn't me, but at that point I was so scared of doing 2 years in jail, I almost took the plea. I was shaking and so afraid that if there was any kind of mixup or if anything went wrong I would be locked up for 2 years for something I didn't do. I was afraid, but I told him again, "look man! It wasn't me. I wasn't there. Someone stole my identity!" and he said "Well, ok, if this is how you want to proceed then..." and had an attitude like "your funeral kid". He walked up to the judge, they opened up the case file, and right there on the front page was the mugshot of the person they had charged. OBVIOUSLY being not fucking me, they dropped the charges then and there on the spot and I was released within 24 hours. This happened to me in Westminster Colorado in about 2007. Out of everything that had happened, to this day, I will never forget how hard that public defender was pushing and trying to scare me into pleading guilty. So much so that I almost pleaded guilty to a crime that I KNEW I hadn't committed because I was afraid of going to jail for 2 years.

[ibeunstoppable]

I am a law student and was assigned to watch this video for one of my classes!

[livelakai]

I WAS TRYING TO SLEEP, LAST WEEK TONIGHT.

[mattgoodwin]

Before I even watch this, I already know how fucked up the public defender situation is in this country. Even still, I expect a few horrifying surprises.

Please don't stop doing good work, Mr. Oliver.

[danielwebb]

I love how he gets A list actors to do his scenes for this. Makes me respect them.

[royalengland]

Holy crap, never knew some states charged for a public defender who "will be appointed to you free of cost". Don't know how people can say the system is perfect

[MacShapow]

The clip with the judge yelling at the defense attorney is terrifying.

[jwelch]

This segment won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Picture Editing for Variety Programming.

[LemonadepieX]

"Come on guess."
"Florida?"
"Of course it was Florida, How could it not be Florida?"

[wadewilson]

Holy shit. That judge beating up a public defender, how can someone be still in charge for his job after that? Like seriously?

[seanod]

I pled guilty to a crime I didn't commit because my PD refused any other course. He is now in prison in MI for hiring a hitman to kill another lawyer. He scheduled my hearing in a middle school auditorium full of kids, parents and teachers. I was accused of buying beer for minors, which I had not done. He he said "I am not going to defend you on THAT charge in front of THIS audience. The only way to avoid jail is to plead guilty. " He could have had the hearing in a court room but chose the school because he was running for prosecutor. A farce, that's on my record forever. Thanks for talking about this issue.

[christopherantoni]

"of course it was Florida, how could it not be Florida!?!?" Had me rolling the first time I watched this episode, I just watched it again now.. It's even funnier than the first time.

[willh]

It's truly sad just how true this story is! I knew that there was information in a statement that a witness supposedly said, but that I knew for a fact that she NEVER said. I told my public pretender this fact, and he STILL refused to call her, or anybody else, whereas, had he called her, he would have found out that the entire statement was fabricated by either the cop, or prosecutor that typed it up. He refused to contact or speak with any witnesses. The only 2 people that he was interested in contacting were the district attorney to get a new plea bargain, and me to try and sell me on how good the current offer was. THEN, my attorney was too good to come to a hearing, so he sent an underling to my hearing. At that hearing, the district attorney offered an even better deal than my attorney had tried selling me on, which was a DPA (deferred prosecution agreement), that I was willing to accept, and MY "lawyer" said no, that I couldn't accept that deal, because she already had the paperwork filled out for the worse deal that she told me (and this is absolutely no joke), "You either accept this deal, or you will be found guilty, and go to jail, " even though she knew next to nothing about my actual case. That was when we proceeded into the courtroom, where the district attorney offered me the better deal (the DPA), and I said I would accept that deal, and MY public pretender actually said no, I could not accept that deal, because she already had the paperwork filled out for the much worse deal, to which I responded, "Then, redo the paperwork, " to which she simply said, "No!"
A friend of mine was in the hospital, and her husband at the time couldn't be bothered to get his kids off to school for 3 straight days, and SHE got charged with child neglect, because she should have been able to stop him from being so lazy. She was charged with child neglect, and her public pretender demanded that she take a plea deal, even though she found out later that because she was physically unable to care for herself with the debilitating illness she had (MRSA that had progressed to the point that the hospital told her that if she didn't get to the hospital within the next 48 hours, she would be dead), she could not legally be held responsible for caring for her children. Unfortunately, the public pretender that was assigned to her case wasn't willing to make that same argument, but instead, just wanted her to plea to something, to close that case and move onto the next.

[Kibaoftheleaves]

I really wish that attorney had kicked that judge's ass.

[StardustLegend]

Despite it being incredibly unlawful and insane behavior, I was kinda hoping that public defender kicked the judge's ass...

[leahprewitt]

I worked as a "panel attorney" in a jurisdiction with no public defender and then became a federal defender. One problem that you don't raise in this segment is that District Attorneys and US Attorneys overcharge in order to have ammunition to gain an advantage in plea negotiations. For example, a case that is basically a conspiracy to sell marijuana will be "upgraded" to include money laundering charges for every time the defendant sent a check or money order to his family. Any crime the DA or US Atty can think of will be charged and by the time you see your client, 90% of them have already confessed to committing the crime. I never urged anyone to plead who told me they were innocent, or had given a false confession. (It happens). I agree that these systems are pitifully underfunded and under-resourced, but that's just one part of the whole problem. Thank you for bringing these issues to focus.

[jimmymcjimface]

I have actually lived through this. In 2006, i was arrested for crimes i did not commit. I was stuck in a brutal jail until i took a plea deal for probation. I was later arrested three more times. On my last court appearance, my new public defender, Mike Wink, had to recuse himself because he was my original prosecuting attorney

[BeyondTshirts]

My son got lucky... he had to get a PD to defend against his now ex-wife's bogus charges. The DA had added a couple of felony charges and his PD was a freaking SHARK. He decimated the ADAs in his case and made his ex look like a fool idiot when she was on the stand. His PD got all of the charges but one summary offense dropped. It was awesome!