LA County Superior Court has struggled to maintain due process, while trying to keep all the players in the courts safe and healthy during COVID-19. At first, all jury trials were suspended. But now some have resumed. That’s partly to grant clients the right to a speedy trial, but also to help offload the overwhelming backlog of cases.
Many LA County public defenders are staring down the barrel of insurmountable caseloads, stress, fears of getting COVID, and trying to uphold the law for their clients. And now they are voicing it.
KCRW hears from Nikhil Ramnaney, an LA County public defender and president of the public defender union.