Evening star., 1940-03-28
Justice Miller
Urges Defender
In D. {. Courts
Bar Leaders Back
PIeu at Senute
Hearing

Legislation authorizing a public
defender for the District was urged
today before a Senate Judiciary
Subcommittee by Associate Justice
Justin Miller of the District Court
Of Appeals and by leaders of the
bar.
Those who made pleas in behalf
Of the Capper bill included Ed
ward M. Curran, who becomes dis
trict attorney after four years as a
Police Court judge.
Justice Miller said his experience
with the public defender system,
particularly in California, where it
has been used for many years, had
convinced him it eliminated to q
large extent "chicanery and skull
duggery" in criminal trials and at
the same time assured fair treatment
for accused persons unable to hire
counsel.
I'm Los Angeles" he added, "the
public defender made it his particu-
lar job to find out whether a pris-
oner had been abused by the police
whether, for instance, he had peen
beaten with a rubber hose to force q
confession"
Crime Increase Cited.
The public defender, he said, is
necessary in the larger cities be-
cause of "the tremendous increase
in crime" and the problem presented
by the INDECENT person arrested and
unable to hire counsel. The Su-
preme Court, he cited, has reversed
convictions number of times on
the ground that the defendant was
not adequately defended.
Il first came into contact with
the poor man accused of crime as
q district attorney in California,
said Justice Miller. "On the Court
of Appeals we see something of the
situation here, but 1 feel it is bet
ter to speak of other parts of the
country"
In Los Angeles, which has the
oldest public defender system in the
country. dating back to 1914, he
said, the Office is organized in the
same manner as that of the prose-
cutor, with an adequate number of
assistants and Investigators.
MY experience has been," he told
the subcommittee, that cases by
public defenders are much better
prepared than those by counsel ap-
pointed by courts to defend prison.
ers."
Protect Rights of Accused.
From 80 to 80 per cent of all per-
sons accused of crime are pleading
guilty, said the jurist, taking the
latest figures compiled by the Census
Bureau-those of 1887. 1t is a mis-
take to assume, he added, that a
public defender will contest more
cases than private counsel might
In many cases, he said, these official
counsel for the defense advise their
clients to plead guilty. but they do
protect the rights guaranteed them
under the Constitution
Most prosecuting officers, said
Justice Miller, are only vaguely
aware of their dual obligation to
protect the innocent as we'll as to
prosecute the guilty AS a conse-
quence, he explained, they seek a
record for convictions, working on
"the success theory"
Another point made by the jurist
was that leaders of the bar in large
cities often refused to take criminal
cases, leaving the defense of accused
persons unable to retain lawyers
largely to young graduates of law
schools or attorneys so old they
were merely hanging on.
Curran Indorses Bill.
Judge Curran said his experience
as a Police Court judge had con-
vinced him public defenders office
was needed in the District. 1t has
been his practice, he explained, to
appoint counsel where prisoners
wahted them, but he often had
noticed that these lawyers often
conferred briefly with the defend
ants and then announced pleas of
guilty.
Il think" he added, that's be-
cause the lawyer gets no COM
pensation. 1t isn't asking too much
to ask lawyer to take one or two
cases year without a fee, but to
ask him to take great many is an
imposition
The public defender bill also was
Endorsed by Seton Darr, a past
president of the District of Colum-
bia Bar Association. He pointed out
that the organization had approved
the legislation after an exhaustive
investigation by committee.
Senator Van Nuys, Democrat, OF
Indiana, presided at the hearing
The author of the bill, Senator
Capper, Republican, of Kansas
was present.
Bennett Urges Extension.
James V. Bennett, director of the
Federal Bureau of Prisons, urgec
that public defenders be appointed
here and in all the United States
district courts. A companion bill tc
the Capper measure extending the
benefit to all Federal trial courts Is
pending.
1t was Mr.. Benefits. opinion that
public defenders would help dis.
cipline in the Federal prisons. As il
is, he said, many of these convict.
feel they didn't get fair trials.
A large number of prisoners at AL.
eatraz, he said, apply for release
on writs of habeas corpus ON thu
ground that they were not ade.
quately defended, and good many
actually win their freedom.