Friday, July 23, 2004

contact: Robin Fisher
            404-232-8900

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

"A Great Day for Justice in Georgia"

Atlanta - - Those words spoken by Chief Justice Fletcher just before swearing into office forty-two of the State's new circuit defenders expressively conveyed the historical importance of the day's event. Nearly three hundred people attended the official swearing in ceremony in the House Chambers of the State Capitol. Speaker of the House of Representatives, Terry Coleman, began the program by welcoming the group into the House Chambers - a historic event in its own right. Speaker Coleman, among others, played a significant role in passing legislation to create the new system for indigent defense. It was the passage of House Bill 770 that created Georgia's first ever state-wide public defender system. Sometimes referred to as the "Indigent Defense Act of 2003", HB 770 is the culmination of bi-partisan efforts of legislators to protect the constitutional rights of the State's indigent citizens.

Now the chief tasks for most of the forty-two circuit defenders will be to secure office space and equipment and to begin the process of hiring assistant public defenders. The responsibility of the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council is to oversee the process of changing from a locally run indigent defense system to a state administered system. The first office of the Georgia's new state-wide public defender system had an official opening earlier this month in the Cordele Judicial Circuit. The Cordele Judicial Circuit Office began in April, 2004, designed as a prototype office established to provide a working example of what is to come with creating other offices across the State. The Council is hopeful to have all state wide circuit defender offices in full operation by January, 2005.

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