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St. Lawrence County receives $255,654 to help with legal services for low-income defendants

Posted 12/20/14

CANTON – A $255,654 state grant will help St. Lawrence County provide legal services for lower income defendants. The grant comes from the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services. The …

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St. Lawrence County receives $255,654 to help with legal services for low-income defendants

Posted

CANTON – A $255,654 state grant will help St. Lawrence County provide legal services for lower income defendants.

The grant comes from the New York State Office of Indigent Legal Services.

The grant provides funding for St. Lawrence County “to improve representation for the indigent population in St. Lawrence County that requests or is appointed counsel for legal matters that qualify.”

The grant will provide St. Lawrence County $85,218 annually for three years to a total of $255,654.

This funding is in addition to money received by the state to offset indigent defense costs.

The cost of legal defense for the poor has been a prominent issue for St. Lawrence County lawmakers, who say the responsibility for funding that defense falls on the state.

In October, a lawsuit asking for more state support for underfunded county indigent defense programs in New York State was settled on terms favorable to those seeking the support, including St. Lawrence County.

St. Lawrence County was one of more than a dozen counties that expressed their support for the counties bringing the suit, which, according to a statement from those counties, was asking for the state to pick up the responsibilities they dropped on the counties after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1963 decision in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright where the court declared a defendant’s right to counsel, paid for by the states if necessary.