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UID:Indybay-18607722
SEQUENCE:18660254
CREATED:20090714T153000Z
DESCRIPTION:The Public Defender’s Office provides services to 29,000 people each year 
 who are charged with a crime and cannot afford a lawyer. Currently, the 
 office faces a $1.6 million shortfall and will be forced to lay-off 
 attorneys and turn cases away at a cost to San Francisco of $3.3 million 
 each year.\n\nToday, there will be a press conference at City Hall, Polk 
 Street steps, noon, highlighting the need to fully restore the Public 
 Defender's budget.\n\nWHEN:           TODAY, July 14, 2009, noon \n\nWHERE: 
        San Francisco City Hall, Polk Street steps\n\nWHO:             
 Former clients of the Public Defender's Office will explain how the legal 
 services provided by the office contributed to positive outcomes in their 
 lives. Among Tuesday’s many speakers are Scott Schell and John A. Jones 
 Jr., who were both represented by the Public Defender’s Office from 
 arraignment to expungement. Schell currently works for the Resolve to Stop 
 Violence Project (RSVP), a Sheriff’s Department program that helps 
 in-custody and post release offenders make changes in their lives to become 
 active citizens in their communities. With the help of the Public 
 Defender’s Office, Jones overcame addiction, obtained full-time 
 employment and is now a motivational speaker. Among the public supporters 
 who will speak to the need to fully restore the office's budget are 
 Lateefah Simon, Executive Director of the Lawyers' Committee for Civil 
 Rights, and Tanya Weisheit, Deputy Director of Jail Psychiatric 
 Services.\n\nWHY:              The Public Defender’s Office provides 
 services to 29,000 people each year who are charged with a crime and cannot 
 afford a lawyer. Currently, the office faces a $1.6 million shortfall and 
 will be forced to lay-off attorneys and turn cases away at a cost to San 
 Francisco of $3.3 million each year.\n\nPublic Defender Jeff Adachi has 
 requested that the Board of Supervisors restore the office’s budget on 
 the grounds that it is more cost-efficient to provide constitutionally 
 mandated indigent defense services through a well-resourced, centralized 
 office. A recent report by the Controller’s Office supported this 
 position, yet the office is still facing budget cuts that will debilitate 
 its ability to provide competent legal representation. \n\nAfter the rally, 
 the full Board of Supervisors will meet in City Hall, Room 250, at 2 p.m., 
 when they will introduce the budget.   Public Defender Adachi will again 
 ask the Board to restore the Public Defender’s Office budget.\n\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/14/18607722.php
SUMMARY:Press conference highlighting need to fully restore Public Defender’s budget
LOCATION:San Francisco City Hall, Polk Street steps
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/07/14/18607722.php
DTSTART:20090714T190000Z
DTEND:20090714T200000Z
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