Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowFor the first time in six years, Union County will receive reimbursement from the Public Defender Commission. The county will get a little more than $7,000 from the commission, which is 40 percent of the county’s first quarter costs for public defense.
Union County has been eligible for reimbursements since 1999, but until this year only requested reimbursement for the years 1999-2002.
The Public Defender Commission was created in 1989 by the General Assembly and distributes money to qualifying counties. Qualifying counties may receive up to 40 percent of public defense costs in felony and juvenile cases and 50 percent in capital cases. Fifty-one counties have received nearly $3.8 million in non-capital reimbursements and more than $112,000 for death penalty cases in the first quarter of 2008. The commission has funding to approve $15 million in reimbursement costs for the 2008-2009 fiscal year and approved $14 million for the 2007-2008 fiscal year.
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