Equal justice: Ongoing goal

By The Daily Progress

Published: October 6, 2008

More evidence of Charlottesville’s unique and admirable character was displayed last week at the 10th anniversary celebration for the local public defender office.

The office, which provides legal counsel to poor people accused of crimes, has become such a fixture here that many people may need to be reminded of a time when such focused assistance for the poor did not exist.

But others remember that time all too well.

Members of the black community knew in their souls that their young men were getting tougher sentences than white felons convicted of similar crimes. But they had no proof.

Then the proof leaped to the front pages of the newspaper.

The Daily Progress took on the task of analyzing two years’ worth of convictions and sentences in an effort to find and quantify the truth. Results showed that black suspects were both more likely to be convicted and more likely to receive longer sentences, especially in drug cases.

And in Charlottesville-Albemarle, economic differences mirrored a racial divide.

“I was hurt” by the findings, Judge Stephen Helvin, now retired, told a group gathered in downtown for the 10th anniversary remembrance.

“It was important to me as a judge that I be fair. And I believed that I was. … But I realized I was looking at it microscopically.” The newspaper series, he said, cast local justice in a wider context and helped him see a larger picture.

The series and the editorials that followed stirred vigorous debate, including questions about the fairness of drug laws and the best method for giving the indigent a fair day in court.

Poor defendants were represented by lawyers who agreed to take on cases in return for a state-mandated rate of pay. The pay rate was notoriously low, and rules made it difficult for lawyers to argue for case-by-case exceptions.

Lawyers here and across the state told their communities that they did not let low pay rates affect the quality of their work for indigent clients. But Charlottesville residents decided they wanted a public defender office, staffed by lawyers whose only job is to defend the poor.

Although public defender offices usually are bestowed from on high by politicians, Charlottesville’s office was the result of grass-roots persistence, from the black community, the white community — from anyone with a desire for fair and equal justice.

The late Grace Tinsley was recognized at last week’s gathering for her efforts in pursuing this reform. The late Del. Mitch Van Yahres fought for years in the legislature for creation of Charlottesville’s public defender office.

Meanwhile, continued pressure over the years from law groups and news media has prompted the state to change its compensation rate and its rules for those communities that still do not have public defender offices.

Judge Helvin said Charlottesville has had one of the fairest judicial systems in the state. But unfairness is always a risk; we are all fallible beings, including those who administer justice.

“The fight for liberty is a fight that all of us are engaged in,” he said.

Hear, hear.