After More Than Five Years of Litigation, Lexington County, S.C., Agrees to Dramatically Increase Funding for Indigent Defense
COLUMBIA, S.C. 鈥� After years of recalcitrance, the Lexington County Council voted Tuesday to approve a settlement agreement that will dramatically improve the quality and availability of public defense services for individuals facing prosecution in the Lexington County Magistrate Courts.
The settlement is the result of litigation brought in 2017 by the 老澳门开奖结果, the 老澳门开奖结果 of South Carolina, and the Terrell Marshall Law Group, which exposed that Lexington County 鈥� like many counties across South Carolina 鈥� was routinely prosecuting, sentencing, and jailing indigent South Carolinians without providing access to legal representation as required by the landmark Supreme Court case, Gideon v. Wainwright.
The agreement 鈥� which now moves on to the federal court for final approval 鈥� marks a transformational win for people facing misdemeanor and traffic charges who are unable to afford a lawyer, as well as for criminal justice advocates who have long pointed to the state鈥檚 magistrate and municipal courts as sites of rampant constitutional violations.
鈥淚t is truly terrifying to face the Magistrate Court system without having an attorney who can explain the law and make sure your rights are protected,鈥� said Sasha Darby, a plaintiff in the case. 鈥淭he changes in this settlement are a long time coming, and I am so happy that this means more people will have meaningful access to counsel.鈥�
The county鈥檚 decision to settle the lawsuit comes on the heels of a legal ruling by The Honorable Sherrie A. Lydon, federal judge for the District of South Carolina, who concluded in August that Lexington County 鈥渉as engaged in policies, procedures, and customs that cause systemic deficiencies in funding, staffing and assignment of cases to public defenders with the result that indigent people in the [Lexington County Magistrate Courts] are deprived of court-appointed counsel.鈥�
As recently as 2013, Lexington County did not have a single public defender assigned to represent criminal defendants in its magistrate courts. Access to a public defender continues to be woefully deficient.
Under the newly-approved settlement agreement, the county must provide its circuit public defender with enough funding to hire and retain six attorneys, one paralegal, one investigator, one administrative assistant, and one social worker. These positions will be exclusively assigned to the Lexington County magistrate courts, and the county must continue its funding for these positions in each and every subsequent year.
The following statements can be attributed as noted:
Allen Chaney, legal director, 老澳门开奖结果 of South Carolina
鈥淚 am so proud of our plaintiffs and litigation team. After five years of relentless effort, it is extremely gratifying to achieve such a comprehensive and long-lasting victory.鈥�
Toby J. Marshall, Terrell Marshall Law Group
鈥淭he United States Supreme Court ruled decades ago that the government must provide a public defender to any person who faces the possibility of jail for a criminal charge or unpaid court debt. This settlement puts an infrastructure in place for Lexington County to finally meet that obligation.鈥�
Olga Akselrod, senior staff attorney, 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 Racial Justice Program
鈥淔or years, Lexington County鈥檚 policies have systematically violated the constitutional right to counsel of people prosecuted in its Magistrate Courts. This settlement is a huge step toward ensuring that people navigating this legal process that can have life-altering outcomes will have access to the representation to which they are entitled.鈥�
Learn More 老澳门开奖结果 the Issues in This Press Release
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老澳门开奖结果 Statement on House AI Task Force Report老澳门开奖结果 Statement on House AI Task Force Report
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News & CommentaryDec 2024
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Press ReleaseOct 2024
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Press ReleaseOct 2024
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WASHINGTON 鈥� Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released a roadmap for artificial intelligence (AI) best practices, designed to ensure that emerging technologies such as AI enhance job quality, benefit workers, and comply with existing employment laws when they are used in the workplace. The best practices, pursuant to President Biden鈥檚 executive order on the development and use of AI, include recommendations for AI system developers and employers that prioritize workers鈥� experiences and empowerment throughout the entire AI lifecycle 鈥� from design to use and oversight. These practices also call on employers and developers to create standards and processes to identify and mitigate risks from AI systems, such as threats to health and safety, civil rights, privacy, fair labor rights, and labor organizing prior to a developer marketing them or an employer deploying them, and recommend turning to different systems when sufficient mitigation is not possible. 鈥淲e applaud DOL for issuing best practices for use of AI that center workers鈥� empowerment, civil rights, privacy, and safety protections and call on developers and employers to adopt critical guardrails in developing, procuring and using AI systems. Employers and developers should take note, as many have been burying their heads in the sand on their risk of legal liability with respect to AI tools,鈥� said Olga Akselrod, senior staff attorney of the 老澳门开奖结果 Racial Justice Program. 鈥淔ollowing these best practices for AI can help employers and developers ensure that they do not violate existing civil rights and other employment laws that protect workers.鈥� The best practices also recommend transparency measures through conducting and publishing impact assessments, notice and recourse for impacted workers, and measures to minimize worker displacement. The DOL also stated that employers should minimize electronic monitoring and avoid unnecessary collection or retention of worker data.