Public defender's withholdings case returning to court

This Feb. 5, 2016 file photo shows Judge Jon Beetem on the bench in Cole County Circuit Court.
This Feb. 5, 2016 file photo shows Judge Jon Beetem on the bench in Cole County Circuit Court.

After Cole County Circuit Judge Jon Beetem rejected the state's motion to block it, the state public defender system's lawsuit challenging budget withholdings is back in court Friday for a status hearing.

A date for more oral arguments could be set during the hearing.

In July, Gov. Jay Nixon withheld $3.5 million in new money for the statewide public defender system, as part of a larger action blocking, at least temporarily, spending that had been authorized in the 2016-17 budget the governor had signed.

Nixon said the withholdings targeted new spending but not core budgets.

However, State Public Defender Michael Barrett argued in a lawsuit the governor's action violated Missouri's Constitution when he withheld more money from the public defender system's budget than he withheld from other budget lines.

The state had asked Beetem to dismiss the case altogether, but the judge said Sept. 28 he couldn't do that and scheduled this week's hearing.

"The Motion to Dismiss for ripeness is sustained as to Count III only," Beetem wrote, accepting the state's argument it's too early in the state business year to determine withholdings are a permanent action when they could be released for spending later in the year.

The state's business year runs July 1 to June 30, so state government currently is only in the second quarter of its business year.

However, Beetem added, the other legal claims are challenges to the governor's authority to withhold at all and ripe for court review.

Solicitor General Jim Layton argued Beetem still should reject the public defenders' claims.

Public defenders provide legal representation for people charged with crimes who can't afford to hire their own lawyer, in cases where a jail or prison sentence is a sentencing option.

Public defender systems in Missouri and other states were created in the 1980s and '90s, after several U.S. Supreme Court rulings that being defended in a criminal case is a right guaranteed by the federal Constitution's 6th Amendment.

One of the public defender's claims in the lawsuit against Nixon's withholdings is the system is part of the Judicial branch of state government, and the governor can't withhold money in that part of the budget.

However, that's not true, Layton wrote.

"The Public Defender System is a state agency performing an executive function," he wrote. "It is, thus, subject to governors' authority to reduce appropriations."

The system hasn't provided its response to Layton's renewed motion to dismiss.