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Imagine you are responsible for providing legal representation for indigent people in your state (the public defender's office). Seven years ago, a request for additional funding to meet increased case load was vetoed. Your budget was cut in 2015 and now the governor's office is recommending further cuts. Making things worse is the fact that the number of cases has increased 12%. What would you do?
The Director of the Missouri Public Defender System came up with a novel approach to help meet the increased caseload burden and sent a letter to the Governor (PDF) compelling him to work cases.
Additional reporting here, here, and here.
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Missouri Governor Fails to Fund Public Defender's Office so They Compel him to Work Cases
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You are a fluke of the universe; you have no right to be here.
(Score: 2) by stormreaver on Friday August 05 2016, @01:02PM
They can assign cases to any registered lawyer, and the Governor is a registered lawyer.
According to Nixon's office, only the Circuit Court can compel a private attorney to represent someone, and the Public Defender's Office can only delegate to those attorneys within its office.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 05 2016, @04:21PM
That was for federal cases. Missouri can do what they want for state court cases.