CLEVELAND, Ohio – Individuals deemed indigent, who are accused of a crime in Lakewood Municipal Court, will now be able to receive representation from a Cuyahoga County assistant public defender.
A new Memorandum of Understanding, approved by the county’s Board of Control on Monday, will allow the court to staff an attorney at the court full-time to help represent low-income or no-income defendants through their various hearings.
For misdemeanor cases, the attorney will work with clients until the case is disposed of by dismissal, plea, verdict or other outcome, county records say. Representation could also include probation violation hearings and other post-conviction matters.
For felony cases, the attorney can represent clients in any proceedings that take place in Lakewood, including arraignment, bindover hearings or preliminary hearings.
The $225,000 agreement, funded through a state grant, starts Wednesday and runs through April 2024, but the county’s Public Defender Cullen Sweeney told the county board on Monday that it may become permanent.
“The hope is that eventually we would work out a contractual agreement with them, similar to what we have with the City of Cleveland, to provide that representation on an ongoing basis,” Sweeney said.
Other municipal courts, such as Euclid and Shaker Heights, have also inquired about the possibility of adding a public defender as well, Sweeney said.
The grant was awarded as part of a state program to help clear a backlog of cases following the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s also expected to increase equity in representation by allowing indigent defendants to access an attorney at their initial court appearance, rather than waiting for an attorney to be assigned, all the way through sentencing, Lakewood Municipal Judge Tess Neff explained in a letter published by the Lakewood Observer.
“It will promote consistency in case treatment, assist in resolving cases in a timelier fashion, and promote fairness in the judicial process,” Neff says in the letter.
Sweeney later told cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer that he has the same hope.
“I think a lot of times in municipal court proceedings the thought is, ‘I’d just like to get this over with.’ And if there’s not an attorney right there (they might think), ‘well, I guess I’ll just work it out and pay whatever fine,’” Sweeney said. “So, I think this will make it a little bit more likely that people will exercise that right to at least consult with an attorney before making a decision.”
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