North Carolina’s thirteenth district awaits approval for a public defender’s office

BRUNSWICK COUNTY (WWAY) — According to the American Bar Association, more than sixty-percent of all lawyers in North Carolina work in five urban counties in the state. That means that the majority of the state counties are in a ‘legal desert.’

But, three counties in the Cape Fear are about to get some help.

A process more than two years in the making is almost complete. The thirteenth judicial district – consisting of Brunswick, Bladen, and Columbus counties – is waiting for the budget approval for a new public defender’s office.

The new office will consist of one public defender and sixteen assistant public defenders.

This will give the office roughly the same number of staff members as the district attorney’s office.

Chief District Judge Scott Ussery revealed that the office will help make-up for a decline in attorneys that the district has seen since the late 1990s.

“Our list has shrunk from twenty-five-ish on our court-appointed list to ten-to-eleven,” he explained. “And in a county the size of Brunswick – the fastest growing county in the state of North Carolina – that amazes me that people are coming off the list, instead of just there being so many people on it.”

Brunswick County’s Senior Resident Superior Court Judge Jason Disbrow added that, currently, there are only five court-appointed attorneys who can handle felony crimes. But, the new office will allow the court to handle more cases, more efficiently.

He believes that having a public defender’s office “on-site where you have an assistant public defender who, literally, may be across the hallway… I think it’s going to help our courts be more efficient than they already have been.” He hopes that it will allow access to an attorney right away as opposed to waiting until the next day, or two-to-three days later.

The public defender will not be nominated for the position until the office’s budget has been approved.