Medina County Policy Comparison of Plan against Actual Practice Medina County has documented and submitted an Indigent Defense Plan in order to comply with the Texas Fair Defense Act. In this plan, it specifies what policies and procedures Medina County has in place to ensure a systematic method of providing qualified counsel to indigent persons in criminal cases. This section analyzes the Plan against noted actual practice. The plan should be reviewed in conjunction with this report and updated to reflect new policies, controls and required actual practice. These are not the only findings, but rather a list of where the plan differs from practice. Plan Submitted Plan Medina County - Opportunity or Recommendation for Change Reference necessary forms establishing probable Observation and discussion identified that there are quality and completeness cause must be completed and filed at the issues in the preparation of PC from the arresting agencies A.ii time an arrestee is booked into jail Establish process for gathering and reviewing quality and completeness of LEA arrest reports in order to identify gaps related to missing PC information and delays in the provision of additional information to allow rapid decision making by the District or County Attorney. Establish county policy that identifies minimum information required to accept arrestee into jail and communicate to LEA’s B.vi the magistrate shall transmit or cause to be Inconsistency in the timeliness of Affidavit of Indigence to JP’s submitting transmitted the magistrate form, a services, whereby the request for court-appointed attorney may not be completed affidavit of indigence and any received to be acted on until 48 hours after request. other forms requesting appointment of counsel B.vii & B.ix shall forward the magistrate form and any By observation and discussion the forms do not consistently get to the clerk. other forms requesting appointment of A consistent method should be implemented and monitored to ensure that all counsel to the appropriate clerk to be put required forms are distributed. into the case file B.viii The plan item is missing or misnumbered
Medina County Policy Comparison of Plan against Actual Practice Medina County has documented and submitted an Indigent Defense Plan in order to comply with the Texas Fair Defense Act. In this plan, it specifies what policies and procedures Medina County has in place to ensure a systematic method of providing qualified counsel to indigent persons in criminal cases. This section analyzes the Plan against noted actual practice. The plan should be reviewed in conjunction with this report and updated to reflect new policies, controls and required actual practice. These are not the only findings, but rather a list of where the plan differs from practice. Plan Reference Submitted Plan Medina County - Opportunity or Recommendation for Change A.ii necessary forms establishing probable cause must be completed and filed at the time an arrestee is booked into jail Observation and discussion identified that there are quality and completeness issues in the preparation of PC from the arresting agencies Establish process for gathering and reviewing quality and completeness of LEA arrest reports in order to identify gaps related to missing PC information and delays in the provision of additional information to allow rapid decision making by the District or County Attorney. Establish county policy that identifies minimum information required to accept arrestee into jail and communicate to LEA’s B.vi the magistrate shall transmit or cause to be transmitted the magistrate form, a completed affidavit of indigence and any other forms requesting appointment of counsel Inconsistency in the timeliness of JP’s submitting Affidavit of Indigence to services, whereby the request for court-appointed attorney may not be received to be acted on until 48 hours after request. B.vii & B.ix shall forward the magistrate form and any other forms requesting appointment of counsel to the appropriate clerk to be put into the case file By observation and discussion the forms do not consistently get to the clerk. A consistent method should be implemented and monitored to ensure that all required forms are distributed. B.viii The plan item is missing or misnumbered
212-12-D07%20Indigent_Defense_Assessment_Report%20FINAL.DOCX