Date: 02-02-2023
Across the West, public defense systems face crushing caseloads, historic underfunding, structural problems, and severe staffing shortages, imperiling criminal defendants lives |
From Omaha World Herald:
Montana resident Joseph Jefferson-Dust often found himself staring into space sitting in jail four years ago, fantasizing about the day he might prove his innocence.
As he served his sentence partially on probation in 2021, Jefferson-Dust had no idea a memo that could clear his name was sitting in an overwhelmed public defender’s office, delaying his exoneration fight for more than a year.
He was accused of sexual assault by a 9-year-old girl, prompted by her father, who detested Native Americans. Jefferson-Dust, a 38-year-old member of the Crow Tribe, pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, criminal endangerment, and was sentenced in 2017 to probation. He’s since been in and out of jail for probation violations.
His accuser recanted three years later at the public defender’s office. It changed nothing for more than a year. Continue reading>>>
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