PLYMOUTH — Monday morning, the Marshall County Commissioners took a first look at a new way of funding the court’s public defenders.
Appearing before the Commissioners Circuit Court Judge Janette Surrisi and Tami Napier, Judge of Superior Court 1, asked them to consider moving to a Public Defender Commission Board for the county. The board would have three members, one appointed by the Commissioners, a second by the four county judges, and a third independent member. The state would set the standards of how many cases a public defender could handle and the amount of support services allowed. The state Public Defender Commission Board would then reimburse the county up to 40 percent of the expenditures.
Surrisi said that, in a look at the numbers from 2023, the state would have seen a reimbursement of $55,000. The judges told the Commissioners that in a major case, such as the current Delphi murders case, the costs to Carroll County have run to $2.5 million, with $1.3 million for the defense. A county using the Public Defender Commission model would be able to see a significant reimbursement of those costs.
The judges told the Commissioners that the model provides faster processing of cases and, in child cases, quicker permanency to resolution of return to the home or even adoption, depending on the case.
Currently, in Marshall County, the Judges choose the public defender and set the terms for reimbursement.
The Commissioners heard and approved a first reading of an ordinance that would start the process by setting up the initial board, whose first action would be a comprehensive plan on the budget.
