Boise – On December 23, 2024, the ACLU filed an emergency motion with the Idaho Supreme Court in the Tucker v. State of Idaho class action — the lawsuit launched in 2015 against the state behalf of tens of thousands of Idahoans who cannot afford their own private attorney — demanding an end to Idaho’s public defender system crisis.
The filing compiles evidence from across Idaho that reveals the public defender system has rapidly deteriorated since the state took it over on October 1, 2024. The motion argues that the state’s rollout of this consolidated office has been a disastrous step backward and asks the Idaho Supreme Court to intervene by ordering people be released from jail until the state can ensure they have prompt access to attorneys with adequate time and resources to assist them.
The state assumed full control of public defense in Idaho state courts in response to court rulings in favor of the ACLU of Idaho, ACLU, Hogan Lovells US LLP, and Ali & Lockwood LLP, which made clear that the state was constitutionally responsible for ensuring all Idahoans have effective legal representation in criminal and juvenile cases regardless of their financial status. In 2022 and 2023, Idaho’s state legislators passed bills to consolidate all public defender offices in Idaho’s 44 counties.
Today’s emergency motion contains never-released information from more than two months of statewide investigation into the state-controlled system. In this comprehensive report, the motion details mass resignations by public defense attorneys and their support staff, leading to chaotic instances of people being held in jails for weeks or even months without the ability to talk to their assigned attorney, and/or people appearing for their court hearing without their assigned attorney. Judges have already begun dismissing cases because the state has provided no attorney to represent people facing charges; many judges have ordered leadership in the new state office to explain the lack of representation or face contempt sanctions.
“This is an obvious and egregious violation of a defendant’s right to legal representation,” said Leo Morales, executive director of the ACLU of Idaho. “We started this case nearly 10 years ago, and despite winning at the Idaho Supreme Court again and again, now we’re back trying to stave off complete disaster. It’s unfathomable that people have already been denied their constitutional right for nearly a decade, but the state is again taking us backward.”
In the emergency motion, attorneys are asking the court to require the state to release anyone who is incarcerated but has not been able to establish contact with their assigned attorney for at least seven days and to release those who go unrepresented at major hearings in their cases. The motion also asks the court to require weekly, monthly, and quarterly reports on the state system, allowing the public and taxpayers to monitor whether the system is constitutional.
“We had to go out and find this information for ourselves by dispatching investigators around the state and talking to people directly,” said Liz Lockwood of Ali & Lockwood LLP, one of the lead attorneys on the case. “The lack of transparency only adds to the confusion and chaos surrounding a system that has been in crisis for years. We have heard stories of people being detained for weeks on end without being able to speak to their attorney, separated from their families, jobs, and communities. It’s unacceptable, and we demand the state right this wrong immediately. We hope the court will see this is an emergency and take immediate action.”
Currently, Tucker v. State of Idaho is on appeal at the Idaho Supreme Court, with attorneys for the plaintiffs challenging an earlier ruling from a lower court that only “time will tell if the state will live up to the promises made or if those are merely empty promises” and denying oversight for the new state office.
