Kevin Ochalla

There was a huge union turnout for the Public Hearing in Markham last night (January 23, 2007). Union members filled the meeting hall, and overflowed outside the hall. This is the type of turnout we need at all of the upcoming public hearings. AFSCME was able to obtain the first slot at the Markham hearing for the opening comments, and AFSCME’s lead negotiator Mike Newman used this time to criticize 17% cuts and layoffs. Public Defender Union President Tom Stoval also testified on behalf of assistant public defenders.

AFSCME reps will appear at every public hearing to get the message out. In the meantime, AFSCME reps continue to meet with County Commissioners and other elected officials to try to turn political support away from indiscriminate 17% cuts. AFSCME officials also continue to coordinate with all of our locals, and other supportive organizations, to gather a huge turnout for Monday’s (January 29) rally at the County Building. It is important for as many assistant public defenders as possible to show up for this rally and support our cause.

In addition, assistant public defenders should download the attached Petition. Petition We ask that you gather as many signatures as possible in support of our cause. Please do this soon, and get your completed petitions to Brendan Max or Bob Galhotra.

Finally, as we continue to fight layoffs in our office, and as we continue to strive to keep you informed of the budget battle, feel free to become more involved in this communication process. If there is information you would like to see on the website, let us know. If there are questions that you want answered on the site for all to see, ask us. We hope that all assistant public defenders have access to as much information as possible.

For those who did not hear, your Public Defender Executive Board issued a press release on January 17, and conducted a press conference in the lobby of the Main Criminal Courthouse.  This was part of our plan to get the message out about the great work we do, and the threadbare budget for our office which should not be cut any further.  Our message was carried by the following news outlets:  Channel 2 News, Channel 7 News, WBEZ 91.5 radio, WBBM 780 radio, The Chicago Tribune Online, The Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, and the Northwest Indiana Times.

If you haven’t read our press release, you can download it from the current President’s Message.  We should all use this release to get our message out to as many areas of the County as possible.

A defendant’s right to a fair trial was violated when a juror appeared to sleep during almost the entire trial. People v. Jones, 2006 Ill.App.Lexis 1204 (1st Dist., 12/26/06). In the case, the defendant was charged with burglary and was tried before a jury. During a sidebar, the judge informed the attorneys that he noticed that one of the jurors was “half-asleep during almost the entire proceeding.” The attorneys and the court took no further action, and the defendant was convicted. On appeal, the First District reversed the defendant’s conviction. The Jones court noted that a juror who is inattentive for a substantial portion of the trial is unqualified to remain on the jury.

Public Defender Union Press Release.

Todd Stroger has presented his budget proposal to the County Commissioners. His plans for our Office, prepared by Public Defender Edwin Burnette, call for the elimination of all 32 Grade I positions, and the elimination of 7 Grade II positions. Not surprisingly, Burnette and Stroger did not see fit during this time of alleged budget tightening to address the real waste in our Office: bloated upper management appointees filling redundant positions.

However, we were surprised to learn from Stroger’s budget proposal that while Edwin Burnette was devising his proposal of layoffs and wage givebacks for assistant public defenders, he managed to obtain a hefty pay raise for himself: $149,632 to $161,506. At a time when politicians are attempting to cut our Office budget to the bone and hinder our services to the poor and working poor of Cook County, Burnette’s substantial pay raise is inexcusable.

These budget numbers clearly show that if anyone is going to stand up for this Office and the work we do for the poor and working poor in Cook County, it has to be us.
Therefore, we held a press conference at the Courthouse today, January 17th, to get our message out about the great work we do in this office, on a budget that is already cut to the bone.  You can download our press release here.  Feel free to forward our message to any people of importance who may support us in our fight to maintain adequate legal services to the poor and working poor in Cook County.  Stay tuned for more news on the budget process.

A link to the PDF version of the local’s seniority list can be found at the Stewards and Grievances section on this website. Just click on the link and make sure your computer can download PDF files. If you think there is a mistake, please send a memo to personnel and copy the memo to the local. There have been some problems with the dates of some of our more senior members that we are working on correcting. In addition, a memo is anticipated from personnel outlining the reasons why this problem occurred (short answer: change in management information systems).

The first stage of our fight for our jobs and benefits in underway. Your Executive Board conducted site meetings last week at all locations, spreading the word that we must all get involved in this fight. Many assistant public defenders showed up, heeded the call, and contacted County Commissioners to express dissatisfaction with Todd Stroger’s misguided budget plan. Now, our representatives at AFSCME are meeting with Commissioners to try to get our message out and change the direction of the harmful budget cuts proposed by Public Defender Edwin Burnette.

One request we heard loud and clear during these site meetings is that people want us to get out a good message to the public, a message that explains all the hard work we do and explains the value we are to the taxpayers of Cook County. We listened, and we are working hard on putting the finishing touches on a public message that will dispel any notion that the attorney-ranks of our office is filled with patronage hires and slackers. The plan for rolling out this message is still in the works, so stay tuned.

If there are newer attorneys who feel that their jobs are on the line, and you want to do something more, you can. We are looking for a couple newer attorneys who can become the public face of proposed layoffs. This would involve the possible appearance at a media function, and some discussion of how a layoff would affect you. If you have any interest, please call Brendan Max or Bob Galhotra.

Your Executive Board met Monday with an AFSCME representative to discuss further action in this budget process. As you may know, Todd Stroger is scheduled to present his budget proposal to the County Board next week. In advance of this, AFSCME lobbyists are busy this week meeting with Commissioners and trying to help shape the budget process. We have been assured by AFSCME representatives that they will unveil a union alternative budget proposal by next week. This proposal will include cost-saving measures that don’t reach into the pockets of assistant public defenders and other hard-working union members.

One other message came from our meeting on Monday- AFSCME does not have many allies in this fight, and we face a real battle during this budget process to hold onto our hard-earned wages and prevent any layoffs. A major rally will be a necessity in the future. By our best estimation, our participation in the phone calls last week was good but not great. When it comes time to rally, we need everyone. When AFSCME makes the call, we must all be prepared to take the time to rally in a show of union strength.

No layoffs will hit this Office without a strong fight from the Union. We will fight to protect the public, our client’s rights to quality representation in the criminal justice system, and the jobs of all public defenders. As we who work here know, layoffs of public defenders would cripple an already teetering justice system: most of us already have case loads in excess of reasonable numbers, the push is on for these many cases to be adjudicated more quickly, and resources have never been sufficient to meet the needs of all our clients; and “tough on crime” legislators continue to enact laws with little regard to their financial impact on the criminal justice system. If we have learned one thing recently from the hundreds of wrongful convictions that have been discovered across the country, it is that more attention and resources need to be directed to the defense of criminal cases, not less resources and fewer attorneys.

This message is starting to get out already, as the Chicago Suntimes today acknowledged the economic irrationality of cutting public defenders who provide cost-effective representation to defendants: http://www.suntimes.com/news/commentary/index.html

Your Union Executive Board is constantly assessing this developing situation, and is working hard to show the impact of cuts to our already skeleton staff of attorneys and to develop a report in collaboration with AFSCME to present to the County Board.

All assistant public defenders should take the following step to stay informed: send your name and email address to brendan.max@cookcountypd.org. This will allow us to keep you in the information loop by allowing us to send you email alerts when important new information is posted on this site, and will allow us to provide you access to the “Members Only” section of this site should we need to post information there. It is our goal to quickly amass an email alert system that reaches every one of our members.

Prepare yourself for action. The Board cannot accomplish its goal of maintaining the current levels of staffing in the office without your help! When the time comes, you may be called to do your part and demonstrate in support of our jobs and our mission in the Office. That is why your email address is important to the Local and you!

By the way, no pink slips have been sent to anyone. The union never “negotiated” any layoffs as a part of contract negotiations. Whoever is spreading that rumor is misinformed and WRONG. Rather than listen to rumor, our members can obtain the most recent information on this developing situation from this site.

In the meantime, you may want to keep up on Todd Stroger’s new approach to County resources, such as commandeering a County elevator and restricting its future use to only providing a lift to him: http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/182943,CST-NWS-stroger22.article

No one knows at this point what the result of the layoff talk will be in our Office. As many of you know, Ed Burnette has told members in various site meetings that he tendered a 2007 budget to the County Board that includes possible layoffs. Here is what we know at this point:

• Burnette was directed to provide a budget that cut the Office expenses by 17%.
• The County Board is seeking ways to cover a gap in their operating budget.
• Burnette’s resulting budget proposed the elimination of many jobs from our Office: Burnette told one group of members the number was 158 employees, while other information indicated that the number was 99 employees.
• The County budget will likely not be finalized until the end of February, and like all political budget processes, the specifics of the budget will change greatly before then.

During this budget process, your Union Executive Board will seek to express the drastic effects of the proposed budget: gutting about 1/3 of our attorneys means that the County is turning its back on its most needy citizens, the poor who deserve quality legal representation. Further, this short-sighted plan will end up bursting the County budget because of expenses the County will incur in providing constitutionally mandated legal assistance to needy people who will not have access to public defenders if drastic cuts are implemented. We will provide more information as the County budget process progresses.

The First District recently held that the trial court erred in not grant a defendant’s request for an insanity jury instruction. People v. Dwight, 2006 Ill.App.Lexis 1045 (1^st Dist.). In Dwight, the defendant was charged with armed robbery. The victim testified that the defendant approached her while she was seated in her car, originally asked for directions, and then said that he “wanted something” from her. The defendant next asked the victim to be his girlfriend, and then pulled out a gun and took a cell phone charger and a work identification card from the victim.

At trial, the defendant asserted insanity. The defense presented testimony from the defendant’s wife and mother. Both testified that the defendant started exhibiting strange and paranoid behavior prior to the armed robbery, including stating the belief that the FBI and CIA were trying to kill him, stating that he believed he was God, and causing physical harm to himself. Moreover, while no expert testified directly that the defendant was insane at the time of the crime, several experts who examined the defendant diagnosed him with bipolar disorder, manic depression, and paranoid delusional disorder. In rebuttal, the prosecution presented the testimony of a psychiatrist who testified that he believed that the defendant was sane at the time of the crime. Based on this record, the trial court denied the defendant’s request for an insanity instruction.

On appeal, the First District reversed, holding that it was reversible error for the trial court to preclude the insanity jury instruction. The Dwight court held that an expert opinion on the ultimate issue of sanity is not a prerequisite to an insanity instruction. Rather, the defendant need only present enough evidence that, if believed by a reasonable jury, would substantiate an insanity defense.

Welcome Brothers and Sisters to our new website. Your Union Executive Board is committed to communicating effectively with our hundreds of members spread all over Cook County. To that end, the Board made the reformation and operation of this new website a top priority. As you will see by navigating this site, the new website contains much needed information and communication. This website will provide updates on issues of importance to all our members, including:

• The latest in activities of the Union Executive Board,
• Updates on meetings and negotiations with representatives of the Public Defender,
• Contact information for Board members and Union Stewards,
• Members-only access for communication between members and the Executive Board,
• A calendar of upcoming events and dates of importance, and
• Links to other helpful websites.

This website will replace the old union newsletter. When updates are posted on this site, such as new “President’s Messages” and new “In The News” postings, you will receive an email notice directing you to access this site and view the new information. This way, we can provide timely and complete communication about the business of our Union.In addition to this information, our new website allows for ready access to your Union Officers for any questions or comments you have.

Our goal for this site is simple: keep the site updated with current information and listen to your comments about how to modify and improve the content. Please take some time to tour the site and discover what’s here. While you browse, we encourage you to consider sending us ideas. Feel free to send submissions for the “In The News” section, where we will be happy to display postings of general interest to our members. While the Executive Board will work diligently to maintain this site, a true measure of the worth of the site will be gauged by member use and participation.

Here is a brief description of some features of this site:

• Click on “In the News” and get updated information about our Union and other matters that affect our work. This information will be updated regularly, and you can register to receive email notice of updated content.
• Click on “Stewards and Grievances” and get information on resolving workplace problems. Included here are names and contact information for stewards, as well as grievance forms and a description of the grievance process.
• Click on “Hot Legal Topics” to browse summaries of new case law and other timely tips affecting your practice of criminal law.
• Click on “Members Only” and register to gain access to this password-protected area where the Executive Board can provide information intended only for members of our Local.
• Click on “Contact Us” and use this portal to communicate with the Board and to submit any ideas or content for this site.

See you at the Christmas Party. Tom.