That's the title of a joint Viewpoint by U.S. Attorney Ben Wagner and Chief Assistant Federal Defender Linda Harter in Sunday's Sacramento Bee with this excerpt:
Public defender agencies in California have been facing severe budget cuts, layoffs and furloughs in recent years. Now the sequester – across-the-board federal budget cuts that took effect this month – is having a profound impact on those who represent defendants in federal criminal cases. In the Eastern District of California – a district that stretches from the Los Angeles County line to the Oregon border and is home to 7.5 million people – indigent defendants are represented by the Office of the Federal Public Defender and a panel of private attorneys who accept appointment to federal cases. Already lean budgets for those services are being cut further. Attorneys and staff in the Federal Defender's Office are being furloughed in a last-ditch effort to avoid cutting funds necessary for defense experts, investigations and interpreters.