A close friend of mine is a public defender, and gave me some disturbing stats.<p>According to the American Bar Association, it is unethical for a defense lawyer to take more than 400 cases a year; 350 if dealing with juvenile cases; three if they&#x27;re capital (death-penalty) cases. Every PD my friend knows regularly goes double those limits, because they have no choice and the states aren&#x27;t interested in upholding the ABA&#x27;s limits.