Since the turn of the century Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, has faced considerable issues with the administration of its justice system. Particularly with regard to the rights of defendants and juveniles to due process and the effective assistance of counsel, issues have arisen that reflect deeper structural problems. This slideshow accompanied a longer presentation dealing with this history and attempts to contrast the regulations of the Model Rules of Professional Conduct and the American Bar Association's guidelines with actual practice in the field.

2. ETHICAL REPRESENTATION
AND THE MODEL RULES
Client-Lawyer Relationship
Rule 1.7 Conflict Of Interest: Current Clients
(a) Except as provided in paragraph (b), a lawyer shall not represent a client if the
representation involves a concurrent conflict of interest. A concurrent conflict
of interest exists if:
(1) the representation of one client will be directly adverse to another client; or
(2) there is a significant risk that the representation of one or more clients will be
materially limited by the lawyer's responsibilities to another client, a former
client or a third person or by a personal interest of the lawyer.
….

4. CRISIS OF INCARCERATION

5. CASE STUDY: HAZLETON, PENNSYLVANIA

6. LUZERNE COUNTY, 2000-PRESENT
• From 2003 to 2008, private prison
operators paid two Luzerne
County judges to send thousands
of children to private prisons for
minor misdemeanor offenses in a
kickback scheme. The judges
knowingly imposed drastically
increased sentences in order to
get money from private prison
corporations PA Child Care and
Western PA Child Care.
• The judges handed over $2.6
million worth of wrongly
incarcerated children. They were
later convicted but the companies
paid a settlement worth less than
the profits they received from the
scheme without penalty.
• Today, Hazleton’s only company
employing more than 1,000 is
Amazon.com.

7. LUZERNE COUNTY PUBLIC DEFENDERS
• While normal rates of public defender caseloads in Pennsylvania
counties hover around 200 per attorney, Luzerne County public
defenders handled nearly 450 cases each as of 2012. The settlement
did not distinguish felony from misdemeanor cases.
• According to the National Advisory Council on Criminal Justice
Standards and Goals, the caseload that public defenders should have to
adequately represent adult clients is around 125 misdemeanors or 70
felony cases.
Right: Ed Olexa, assistant public
defender in Luzerne County, with
his case files.

8. LUZERNE COUNTY, 2012
• Complaint filed by Al Flora, Jr., Chief Public Defender of Luzerne
County, in April 2012.
• Writ of mandamus against Luzerne County government and county
manager Robert Lawton to adequately fund the public defender office.
• Joining in the complaint was a class of indigent defendants from
Luzerne County who had been refused services by the Office of the
Public Defender due to the budget crisis
• Flora charged the county with inadequate funding of the office,
resulting in unconstitutional representation and the inability to ethically
represent clients

9. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION GUIDELINES
GUIDELINE 7
When motions to stop the assignment of new cases and to withdraw from
cases are filed, Public Defense Providers and lawyers resist judicial
directions regarding the management of Public Defense Programs that
improperly interfere with their professional and ethical duties in
representing their clients.
(ABA EIGHT GUIDELINES OF PUBLIC DEFENSE RELATED TO EXCESSIVE
WORKLOADS )

10. THE AFTERMATH IN LUZERNE COUNTY
• Chief Public Defender Al Flora was fired by the Luzerne County
government on April 29, 2013. No reason was given for the firing, and
Flora’s job security had been guaranteed by a prior settlement
agreement with the county.
• Flora has since moved to legislative advocacy, joining a bipartisan
group of state senators in proposing a statewide public defender
training and advocacy center. As of April 2014, the proposed bill has not
been voted upon.
• On April 10, 2014, a federal court dismissed Flora’s wrongful
termination suit against the Luzerne County government. He
immediately filed a notice to appeal.
• The case filed together with the ACLU and indigent class of defendants
was similarly dismissed in October 2013. The plaintiffs have appealed.