Public defender contract extended by county board

By RALPH ANSAMI

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Bessemer — The public defender contract between Gogebic County and the McKenzie and Talaska law firm has been extended for three years.

The Gogebic County Board of Commissioners granted the extension last week after the matter was discussed at a finance committee meeting.

James McKenzie noted in an Oct. 6 letter to the county that his firm had an original contract for 2008-’13 that was renewed for two years through the end of this year.

McKenzie said he and his Bessemer firm law partner, Anna Talaska, had requested only a two-year extension before because there was a possibility of the state of Michigan putting into place a statewide public defense system. That hasn’t happened and isn’t likely to occur in the immediate future, McKenzie said.

“We are now comfortable in requesting an additional three-year term for our contract,” McKenzie wrote.

The previous two-year contract for McKenzie and Talaska to provide services for indigent individuals was approved by the board for $100,000 each year.

The new contract calls for rates of $100,000 for 2016, $105,000 for 2017 and $110,000 for 2018, county clerk Gerry Pelissero said Tuesday.

Gogebic County District Probate Judge Joel Massie and Circuit Judge Roy Gotham had recommended the contract extension. They noted if the county failed to provide indigent defendants with competent attorneys, a conviction could be reversed by the Michigan Court of Appeals and sent back for another trial, costing the county more.

“They (McKenzie and Talaska) can be trusted to provide quality services in all cases, from misdemeanor shoplifting to homicides and complicated embezzlement matters,” the two judges wrote to the county board.

The judges also said if the two attorneys were to be paid at an hourly rate, the cost to the county would be “far greater.”