Some Are Jailed in Mississippi for Months Without a Lawyer. The State Supreme Court Just Barred That. [propublica.org]
The Mississippi Supreme Court in April 2021 Credit:Rogelio V. Solis/AP By Caleb Bedillion and Taylor Vance, ProPublica, April 14, 2023 Poor defendants in Mississippi are routinely jailed for months, and sometimes even years, without being appointed an attorney due to the state’s notoriously dysfunctional public defender system. The Mississippi Supreme Court now says this practice must end. The state’s highest court approved a mandate on Thursday that criminal defendants who can’t afford...