A special judge has dismissed seven judges from a lawsuit in Cole County Court aimed at ending Missouri’s use of public defender “wait lists.”
Judge William Hickle, presiding judge in the 25th Circuit, said the judges were “not necessary parties to this action.”
Two of the seven judges were Cole County Associate Circuit Judge Cotton Walker and Callaway County Associate Circuit Judge Carol England.
Hickle overruled a motion to dismiss the state, the Missouri Public Defender System and director of the Office of State Public Defender Mary Fox from the suit.
A hearing on this case is scheduled in June, and a three-day trial is scheduled in September.
Civil rights advocates filed the lawsuit in February claiming the public defender “wait lists” are a practice that deprives thousands of people of their right to court-appointed counsel.
The lawsuit alleges more than 4,600 people were on growing waiting lists for a defense attorney in Missouri and about 600 of those are being held in pretrial detention without legal representation. It blames an overburdened indigent defense system for criminal defendants waiting months or even years before they are assigned an attorney.
The petition, which seeks class-action status, was filed on behalf of eight named criminal defendants by the American Civil Liberties Union; the ACLU of Missouri; the Rodererick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center; and law firm Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe.
The Missouri Attorney General’s Office is representing the state in this case.