Public Defenseless 193: What Went Right, What Went Wrong, and What is Next for Idaho Public Defense w/Kimberly Simmons and Paul Riggins
Today, Hunter sat down with Kimberly Simmons, the former Executive Director of the Idaho Public Defense Commission, and Paul Riggins, a private criminal defense attorney in Idaho, to discuss the past decade+ of public defense in Idaho. Like so many county based systems covered on the show, Idaho was once a patch work model where the quality of representation a person could expect depended almost entirely on where that person was arrested. Seeing the flaws in this model, Idaho took major steps to start to create more uniform standards and control of the system, but it failed to produce the results everyone wants. Tune in to hear how and why Idaho now stands on the verge of its second major public defense overhaul in just the past decade.
Guests:
Kimberly Simmons, Former Executive Director, Idaho Public Defense Commission
Paul Riggins, Criminal Defense Attorney, Idaho
Resources:
Tucker v Idaho
https://www.acluidaho.org/en/cases/tucker-v-state-idaho
2010 NLADA Report
Bonnie Groller Law Review Article
Idaho Workload Study
https://pdc.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/11/2018/03/PDC-WORKLOAD-STUDY-online-version.pdf
Idaho Public Defender Overhaul
https://blog.idahoreports.idahoptv.org/2023/03/23/legislature-approves-public-defense-overhaul/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
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