NEW ORLEANS, April 2 (UPI) -- A New Orleans judge threatens to release 42 accused on grounds they can't obtain adequate legal representation from the public defender's office.
Orleans Parish Criminal District Court Judge Arthur Hunter scheduled a hearing April 18 when he says he will release the defendants unless the district attorney can convince him they should remain in jail, USA Today reports.
Hunter has been trying for more than a year to reduce the pre-Katrina backlog of poor suspects who are in jail awaiting trial without attorneys.
He has lashed out at the Louisiana legislature and ordered Gov. Kathleen Blanco to appear in court to explain why the state hasn't provided more money for the public defender system.
"Indigent defense in New Orleans is unbelievable, unconstitutional, totally lacking in the basic professional standards of legal representation and a mockery of what criminal justice should be in a Western civilized nation," Hunter wrote in his order for the April 18 hearing.
Unlike other states that use tax money to finance public defenders, Louisiana relies on traffic ticket revenue which has declined dramatically in New Orleans.
