By Megan Wehring
HAYS COUNTY – The long-awaited public defender’s office (PDO) is moving forward in Hays County.
On Nov. 22, the Hays County Commissioners Court unanimously approved an agreement between the county and Neighborhood Defender Service, Inc. (NDS), though the contract was originally supposed to be ready in August. The $11,282,910 (or about $2.256 mil. annually) contract is effective through Sept. 30, 2027, but can be renewed for another five-year term.
In August 2021, the court allocated up to $5 million of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds to create a PDO.
Now, the remainder of the funding will need to be budgeted. The contract states that if the court fails to appropriate funding for the agreement for the following fiscal year, the county may terminate the contract after giving NDS a 60-day notice of the terminated contract.
NDS will be assigned up to the equivalent of 1,434 misdemeanor cases annually over the term of the contract for years two through five, according to the contract, where a misdemeanor counts as one misdemeanor case and a felony counts as 1.87 misdemeanor cases. The caseload will be prorated for the partial, first year of the contract.
Cyrus Gray III, a former inmate of the Hays County Jail, was incarcerated for nearly five years pretrial.
“The time inspired me to advocate for men and women who unfortunately, are and have been experiencing the same thing I had,” Gray said. “Court-appointed attorneys are overloaded with cases and have such a lack of resources that the expectation of adequate fair defense seems impossible.”
Many offenders would go three months to a year without hearing or seeing court-appointed attorneys, Gray pointed out in public comments.
“With such a lack of resources and overload of cases, the fault is not entirely on the court-appointed attorneys,” Gray said. “It is the system in whole. Having a public defender’s office will create much needed relief. To reduce the workload will allow our court-appointed attorneys to focus on the cases that they do have.”
Gray added that the majority of those incarcerated are pretrial detainees, therefore, considered innocent until proven guilty.
“A public defender’s office provides a sense of relief and resources needed to expedite these cases,” Gray said.
Gray is appreciative of the county’s efforts in the creation of a PDO.
“I’m sorry we failed you as a county,” Judge Ruben Becerra responded to Gray’s comments. “I will continue to fight for you and everyone else that’s voiceless in our community. I’m grateful that the Lord gave me four more years to represent the broken, vulnerable and voiceless, whatever they look like and wherever they live. I will do my very best to continue to push so that you and your experience is not wasted.”
