Indigent Defense Plans and Summary
The MacArthur Justice Center at the University of Mississippi School of Law filed a motion in the Mississippi Supreme Court to amend the Mississippi Rules of Criminal Procedure for the purpose of clarifying the obligation of each circuit court district to produce to the Supreme Court and make available to the public its Indigent Defense Plan. Rather than take up the substance of our motion, the Supreme Court corresponded directly with each court and directed production and publication of “the established procedure within your district for the appointment of counsel for each indigent defendant entitled thereto.” The Court’s order on our motion is available here.
Having now received the “procedures” produced by all circuit court districts, we are making those plans available below along with a summary of their contents. To see the documents produced by each court in response to the Supreme Court’s letter, place your cursor over the name of the court to access a link.
We have not undertaken any effort to confirm whether courts are complying with the policies/practices described herein.