D.C. Witness Investigation Finds Lawyers For The Indigent Beset by What the Court Calls, ‘An Exceptional Circumstance’

By Jeff Levine - November 6, 2024
Court | Daily Stories | Featured | Suspects |

Louis Wesson, 28, has found himself in the DC Superior Court’s presentment hearings before and it has not been a happy experience.

His latest encounter with the criminal justice system relates to a weapons charge which he calls, “bullcrap.”  As for the presumption of innocence, Wesson says appearing in court can just mean “throwing your ass in jail.” 

He is by no means alone and lawyers assigned to defend indigent clients like Wesson are finding the task increasingly difficult.

After an initial visit in late summer, D.C. Witness reporters attended another recent presentment court session. During that proceeding there were 33 defendants who appeared for hearings that lasted five minutes on average, many for allegedly defying warrants and on lesser criminal charges.  Some hearings were as brief as one minute. 

For almost all criminal defendants who appear in DC Superior court, court-appointed panel attorneys handle their cases.  However, the demand for service and the limited supply of these attorneys has caused a legal traffic jam, according to a months-long investigation conducted by D.C. Witness talking to court officials, lawyers and reviewing relevant documents.

In frustration, Todd Baldwin who heads the panel known as the DC Superior Court Trial Lawyers Association (SCTLA) calls the pressure on panel attorneys “untenable.”

“The DC Court is very much aware of the issues facing panel attorneys and we’re working to resolve the problem,” a court spokesman told D.C. Witness. That includes holding open houses, and trying to recruit new attorneys through a variety of tools including social media.  However, the spokesman noted that in a “city full of attorneys,” not enough are pursuing panel work.

The ideal size of the DC panel, says Baldwin, is at least 200 lawyers, but now there are only 139 members working and of those maybe 75 are active on a given day.

D.C. Witness data shows that between May and August of this year there

were 302 felony cases involving 615 hearings requiring 843 lawyer appearances.  

Data from the court’s 2025 budget justification to congressional appropriators shows that panel attorneys under the auspices of the Criminal Justice Act (CJA) handle 79 percent of DC Superior Court criminal cases, the PDS about eight percent and two percent going to private firms doing pro bono work.

Source: The DC Superior Court 2025 Budget Justification Report

To get another view of the data, D.C. Witness asked the DC Sentencing Commission to review which types of attorneys handled certain felony cases that actually resulted in a sentence between 2022 and 2023.  The results again show that panel attorneys were in the majority in every category except homicides.

Note: AWIK is the abbreviation for assault with intent to kill. ADW is assault with a dangerous weapon.

DC Cases Sentenced Between 2022-2023

Source: DC Sentencing Commission

According to the DC Courts’ Statistical Summary for 2023 $46 million is allocated for  “Defender Services” to compensate panel attorneys, separate from the PDS, which is asking for $59 million next year up from $53 million this year to handle fewer cases total than panel attorneys. However  the agency typically takes on the more challenging felony cases and has a number of other responsibilities besides litigation. 

D.C. Witness asked the PDS for comment on the case disparity question but they have yet to respond. 

The panel’s budget, meanwhile, hasn’t increased in five years, says Baldwin. The federal government pays for the local operation of the DC courts. 

At the same time, the DC Superior Court faces a substantial workload.  According to the court’s 2023 annual report, there were 4,472 pending felony cases as of Jan. 1 of last year.  While the majority were settled through plea agreements, there were still 165 jury trials, netting 93 guilty verdicts and 53 not guilty outcomes. 

In total, Baldwin may be representing as many as 60 defendants at one time charged with a wide variety of offenses from misdemeanors to the most serious felonies. What the clients have in common is severe financial and life challenges. 

“We love our clients, love the work we do,” says Baldwin.  However, in his 33 years on the job, Baldwin says the situation has never been worse, because “we desperately need more attorneys” to fulfill the constitutional obligation.

The problem is not only exacerbated by an rising number of criminal prosecutions, but the fact that the cases themselves are increasingly complex because of technical evidence like analyzing DNA samples, bullet fragments, social media posts and surveillance videos.  

As previously reported, the burgeoning case load combined with a budget shortfall pushed the PDS to the brink of a furlough, which was called off at the last minute in July.  

While panel attorneys are private contractors and cannot be compelled to work, “We are cognizant of the crisis and we are pitching in to help as much as we possibly and professionally can,” says Baldwin. 
The situation reached a critical point in September when the court issued an administrative order authorizing the temporary use of retired panel lawyers like Charles Murdter, an attorney since 1980.

“I guess I’m sorta un-retired,” wrote Murdter in an email to D.C. Witness after he received the document stating, “the current number of full panel attorneys available for appointments in general has decreased significantly, thus creating an exceptional circumstance.”

Still, Baldwin’s “mystified” that more attorneys don’t take on the work given the challenge and the reward.  Every Monday, he’s back in courtroom C 10 waiting for the many new cases that are bound to arrive.