The Curious Catch 22 Involving the Cook County Public Defender.
Cook County Public Defender Ed Burnett is facing a “catch 22” and it’s time to let the public know about it.
For more than a year Burnett has been trying to get County Board President Todd Stroger to supply the funding his office needs to hire more public defenders. Instead, for more than a year, the Public Defender has seen his budget cut, Attorneys and support staff slashed to nearly half the level they were at five years ago. Burnett has been forced by Stroger to watch his staff cut to bare bones while the public’s need for more public defenders rose.
Besides cutting the Public Defender’s budget, Stroger’s office suggested that the public defenders only work three days a week – which is hard to do when an attorney is working on a capital case and a defendant’s life is at stake. After that suggestion failed, Stroger ordered the ... Read More...
