New Mexico Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur told a panel of state lawmakers Monday that his understaffed office could hit a point at which public defenders cannot take on new criminal cases.
Across the state, the Law Offices of the Public Defender has 190 staff attorneys and a vacancy rate of more than 21%. Speaking before the interim Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee in downtown Albuquerque, Baur referred back to a landmark 2022 report which found that the state needed more than 600 additional public defenders to ensure his office meets its minimum constitutional requirements.
In many rural areas, Baur does not even have public defenders on staff. His agency’s office in Gallup, for example, has a single staff attorney. In those areas, Baur often turns to contract attorneys, but can only offer pennies on the dollar compared to what prosecutors earn — working as a contract defender in a first-degree murder case only carries a base payment of $6,500, Baur said…