BURLINGTON, Vt. (WCAX) – Ever since the pandemic, the Vermont court system has faced a backlog of cases. Now, a shortage of public defenders is compounding that problem.
Public defenders are lawyers paid for by the state to represent people who cannot afford to hire their own lawyers. In most cases, each county is responsible for contracting them, but that system has been falling short lately.
Darren Perron spoke with Vermont Defender General Matt Valerio about the problem.
