No Public Defender in Canyon County (Updated x 2)

Judge Hurlbutt has denied Wiebe & Fouser's Motion for a Preliminary Injunction. W&F's contract was terminated by the County Commissioners effective Friday and Mark Mimura is not contracted to start until October. Even though the decision was made on Friday, it was not served on the parties until yesterday. Wiebe and Fouser lawyers stopped working after the decision was received from the court.

The Idaho Press Tribune quotes Canyon County spokesperson Angie Sillonis as saying that
"[t]he commissioners received no notice and are very concerned." She went on to say that: "It appears assigned public defenders are choosing to not meet with their own clients, which puts everyone in an awful position. But the board remains committed to assuring services to the people of Canyon County."

How's that? The Commissioners didn't have any notice that they terminated the contract effective July 31? And the Commissioners didn't know that Mark Mimura isn't supposed to start until October 1? Really? Sad, if true.

Anyway, if the county was really concerned about providing public defender service why did they terminate W&F's contract early so they could get a lower bid? It's fairly obvious that the Commissioners just want to save a buck and don't give a fig about public defense.

Here's the story from the Idaho Press Tribune.
http://www.idahopress.com/?2009-08-04-Judge-Canyon-county-without-public-defender

UPDATE: And for those who enjoy irony, the Press Tribune is also reporting that the Canyon County Prosecutor has asked the Commissioners for more money so he can raise staff salaries! http://www.idahopress.com/?2009-07-31-Prosecutor-sheriff-seek-raises-for-most-staff Doesn't it make more sense for the prosecutors to take a pay cut given the Commissioners have just put the PDs out of business?

SECOND UPDATE: SCOIDBlog has learned that no one from Canyon County has bothered to go over to W&F and retrieve case files. That doesn't show much of a commitment to "assuring services to the people of Canyon County," if you ask me.

Also, the fact that the Commissioners have terminated the PD contract without making adequate provision for new counsel can't be good cause to set trials past the six-month speedy trial time, can it?