Inmates launch lawsuit to get lawyers within 2 weeks
Associated PressMADISON, Wis. — A group of jail inmates waiting for public defenders to represent them filed a lawsuit Tuesday asking a judge to force the state to assign attorneys to indigent defendants within two weeks of their first court appearance. Antrell Thomas, one of the plaintiffs, alleged that he has been held in the La Crosse County Jail since last August, when he was confined on charges of drug possession, according to the jail’s website. The lawsuit seeks judicial orders denoting the lawsuit as a class action and requiring the state to assign attorneys to indigent defendants within 14 days of their initial court appearance. Wisconsin State Public Defender Kelli Thompson said in April that her agency staff had shrunk about 20% and it could take years to get through a 35,000-case backlog.
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