Phillip V. Anderson

Anderson is the president of the Virginia State Bar, a regulatory agency of the Supreme Court of Virginia comprising 39,000 members. He is a partner in the Roanoke law firm Frith Anderson & Peake PC.

Today hundreds of innocent Virginians will walk into Virginia courts charged with crimes. These charges could result in their loss of liberty. They are "innocent" because our system of justice presumes all Virginians are innocent until proved guilty -- proved guilty through an adversarial process predicated upon an aggressive prosecution and an effective defense.

Many of these Virginians will plead guilty or be found guilty and lose their freedom. Many will actually be guilty.

Others will be victims of a system that fails to provide for an effective defense. In a perfect system, truth would determine who is innocent and who is guilty. In the search for this truth, Virginia's poor have as their only aid a lawyer appointed for them by the court -- not one they select or with whom they have a personal relationship, but one provided for them by other Virginians. Everyone, regardless of socio-economic situation, deserves adequate representation and a fair trial.

So where do we stand here in Virginia on this issue of adequate representation for poor charged with crimes? Where do we stand on this issue of vital importance to justice here in the birthplace of freedom, the cradle of democracy and home to authors of the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and the United States Constitution?

Last in the nation.

Virginia ranks 50th in compensation for court-appointed attorneys. Virginia is the only state in the country with unwaiveable caps on fees paid court-appointed lawyers. This means that no matter how many hours the court-appointed attorney spends on a case, he will receive not one dollar more than the cap allows.

Virginia pays court-appointed lawyers $1,186 to represent a client who faces 20 years to life in prison, even if there's a full-fledged trial. The maximum payment for less-serious felonies is $428.

So when that "innocent" Virginian walks into court charged with a crime that could result in the loss of liberty for life, the only one standing beside him in this search for the truth, painstakingly gleaned through the adversarial process, is a lawyer -- paid $1,186 -- or an equally poorly paid public defender. Are you ready to trade places with that Virginian?

When corporate kingpins like the executives of Enron are tried, they spare no expense to hire the very best investigators, experts and lawyers to protect their liberty. Whether justice is always served when unlimited resources of one charged with a crime goes head to head with the resources of the state is another question, but what is clear is that no one can complain that access to justice was denied because of a lack of resources. Can the same be said for Virginia's poor?

This circumstance, if left unaddressed, not only jeopardizes a full and adequate representation for the poor, but also reinforces the perverse notion that justice is only for the privileged few who can afford a full defense. Such a notion will over time irreparably undermine the public's confidence in our system of justice and, ultimately, the rule of law.

This is not an issue about more money for lawyers. It is an issue about repairing a criminal justice system that has been neglected for years. Virginia's poor do not lobby, call, e-mail or write letters to legislators. They do not organize and give to political parties. Unfortunately, many do not even vote. They not only are Virginia's "innocent" poor, but they are also Virginia's silent poor. If we do not speak for them, they have no voice.

The time for action is now. In this session of the General Assembly, Dels. David Albo, Terry Kilgore, Lacey Putney and Vincent Callahan Jr. and Sens. Kenneth Stolle and Frederick Quayle have introduced separate bills and budget amendments to address, in varying degrees, this deplorable situation. The cost estimates for each of the proposals have been calculated and are clearly within the commonwealth's means to fund.

Whether these bills will fall victim to the budget knife in the face of other priorities remains to be seen; however, what is clear is that Virginians who have a voice, and particularly Virginia lawyers who should most appreciate the importance of equal justice, will have no one to blame for being last but ourselves. We must stand up and denounce this deplorable situation, because the perception that justice is at best only partially rendered to Virginia's poor is a threat to justice for all Virginians.

For more information about the proposed amendments and bills or about indigent defense in Virginia go to vidcoalition.org.