Saipan’s District Court needs federal public defender office

The increasing number of criminal cases at the U.S. District Court on Saipan warrants the establishment of a federal public defender’s office here, according to federal Judge Alex Munson.

Munson said the number of cases brought to the federal court from January to July of this year has reached 46, and it is expected to further increase and reach the national average by October. In the mainland, a judge handles an average of 62 criminal cases a year.

Representatives from the Federal Public Defender’s Office of Hawaii came to Saipan last week to assess the need to set up an office here, Munson said.

According to the Hawaii office, a federal public defender’s office can be established in a jurisdiction with a minimum of 200 cases per year. The national average for a public defender is 85 cases per year.

“If we would include cases from Guam which are more than 200, then we would reach the national average,” Munson said. “I’d very much welcome to have a public defender’s office here. I think the CNMI Bar Association would welcome it, too, since it would ease the load that are assigned to their members.”

Munson attributes the sudden increase in the volume of caseloads to the increased federal presence on Saipan.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office, which used to have only one lawyer, now has three. The number of FBI agents on Saipan has increased from three to five. The Drug Enforcement Agency has established link with the local authorities.

“There’s an increase in law enforcement. More investigations are conducted and more cases are prosecuted,” Munson said.

The federal court dockets have been clogged by the alien smuggling cases involving Chinese citizens who sailed from China’s Fujian province to the Marianas waters. A total of 30 have been charged in connection with this.

Of the 46 cases filed in the District Court, 40 involve criminal charges.

At least 38 have been assigned to court-appointed lawyers, who are asked to represent indigent defendants.

The appointment of lawyers by the court is provided by the Criminal Justice Act, which observes the Constitutional provision that all people in the United States, whether citizens or not, are entitled to get equal protection of the law.

“The court assigns lawyers to defendants who are established to be not capable of hiring an attorney,” Munson said. “It is expensive to hire a criminal lawyer.”

A private lawyer on Saipan charges a minimum of $250 per hour. Some of them require a down payment of between $500 and $1,000.

Some lawyers who are appointed to represent Chinese clients have complained that the amount they are paid is not commensurate to the cost of representation.

The Criminal Justice Act has established the rate for court-appointed lawyers, who get $60 per court appearance and $40 for out-court work.

While attorneys recognize their civic duty, Munson said many of them lose money to cases that are big and complicated.

“They have to pay a clerk to type documents, use volumes of papers, and pay office rent. You can’t do all these for $40,” Munson said.

In other jurisdictions, Munson said, a private lawyer gets appointed “only once in their lifetime” considering that there are thousands of lawyers to pick from.

There are only about 40 to 50 private lawyers on Saipan, and some of them are already handling two cases, Munson said.

“If we have a public defender’s office, private lawyers would not have to be called for this duty,’ Munson said.

One alternative to the public defender’s office would be the creation of a Criminal Justice Panel composed of attorneys specializing in criminal cases. The court can call a lawyer from this panel whenever it needs to appoint one.

Munson said he earlier tried to form this panel within his court’s jurisdiction, but only two lawyers signed up.

“It’s unrealistic to set up a panel here until the CNMI Bar Association is big enough; then we can have a panel of at least 35 members. Under the present condition, we have no other choice but rely on the CNMI bar to do their share,” Munson said