In the Fifth Amendment are the Miranda rights, those rights include: “the right to an attorney”. Given the financial crisis of the public defender’s office that right could be at risk.

The district’s public defender’s office is facing an enormous financial crisis.

The 15th judicial district public defender’s office, which covers Lafayette, Vermilion, and Acadia Parishes, is having trouble meeting the high demand of cases.

A lack of funds has left the office no choice but to cut back on lawyers.

“We had about 60 lawyers when it started and now we have about 15.”

That means only a handful of cases can be processed.

Chief District Public Defender Paul Marx says if something isn’t done soon the number of cases on hold will grow.

“The real concern now is this building, sort of wave, of people that are on a wait list, and how we are going to process them. It’s almost unmanageable. It is a total collapse of the criminal justice system here,” says Marx.

Caitlin Graham is an assistant public defender for Acadiana.

“All of our caseloads have increased exponentially.”

Graham says these layoffs are taking a toll on her quality of work.

“It’s certainly not my intention, or any other lawyers intention, to not give the client everything they deserve, but when your numbers are this high, and the caseloads are skyrocketing, it really becomes impossible to fulfil that obligation,” says Graham.

Currently, just over 3,000 defendants in the 15th judicial district are in need of representation.

Marx expects that number to double over the next few months.

“That number will be six thousand, and in a year be ten, and then fifteen thousand,” says Marx.

Marx says the public defender’s office has until the next fiscal year to fill the gap in the budget.