Salt Lake and Utah counties have well-established nonprofit indigent defense programs that operate with funding from the counties and other sources, but Weber is the first county to create an in-house agency with a director and full-time attorneys, according to the officials involved.

Jim Retallick, 63, who has been a criminal defense attorney in Ogden for 26 years, started Feb. 1 as director of the Weber Public Defender Group.

“My goal is to have us be involved from the day they are arrested and even beyond after sentencing to assist them in going in the right direction,” Retallick said. Many defendants need help with mental health and substance abuse counseling and housing.

Retallick said moving away from reliance on part-time contract attorneys will be a central focus. He said he hopes to be able to hire some of the existing contract defenders for full-time openings in the new office.

“Probably the biggest issue has been the nature of a contract attorney,” said Retallick, who worked as a contract defender before accepting his new job. “You have a certain amount of income from public defender work, but if that is insufficient to cover your overhead of a secretary and an office and equipment, you have to supplement that with private cases.”

County Commissioner Scott Jenkins, who is one of three members on an oversight board for the new program, agreed it’s time to move to full-time defenders.

“This all comes down to the theory that you have got to have adequate representation,” Jenkins said. “It can’t just be somebody that walks in and pleads. That doesn’t cut it anymore. They have to be willing to sit down with people and vigorously argue their cases before the court.”

A report by the Sixth Amendment Center several years ago found fault with Utah’s indigent defense system. And Weber County’s organizational approach to the task — having the county prosecutor’s offense participate in the provisioning of the contract defender team — was called an area open to conflicts of interest.

Jenkins said the county’s prosecutors were readily in favor of the new defender office. “Our prosecutors are worried about a good defense just as much as the defenders are,” Jenkins said. “If the defense is not vigorous, the judge will overturn it.”

During discussions in planning the new entity, Jenkins said prior problems involving contractor attorneys were discussed, adding to the rationale of changing the structure. The highest-profile matter was that of Samuel P. Newton, a former death penalty attorney for Douglas Lovell who last year received $250,000 in an out-of-court settlement. He had sued the county, alleging officials unfairly fired him after he publicly complained about parsimonious funding.

“We took a sock in the jaw over that,” Jenkins said. “It was a black eye for the county.”

Richard Mauro, another member of the oversight board, said Weber’s new approach will save taxpayers’ money and “create a high degree of expertise with full-time, skilled lawyers doing the work.”

Having dedicated attorneys cuts potential conflicts of interest as well, said Mauro, who is the executive director of the Salt Lake Legal Defenders Association, a nonprofit with 100 full-time attorneys.

While improvements are envisioned, Retallick said the new defenders team is being built from the ground up. For now, he will coordinate the contract attorneys and see to the setting up of the agency’s offices in the Weber Center. He said he hopes all nine current contract positions will eventually be brought into the office as full-time county employees.

According to budget documents, the county budgeted $1.6 million on indigent defense in 2021, but the actual total ended up at almost $1.8 million with some mid-year additions. For 2022, the budget totals more than $2.3 million.

“We’ve got to get into it,” Jenkins said. “If you get cases overturned, it will cost a whole lot more than that.”

Mauro said he hopes the Weber operation will receive further funding as well from the Utah Indigent Defense Commission, which was created several years ago to help counties improve their efforts.

For the current state fiscal year, which started last July 1, the commission granted Weber County $397,000, including $293,000 for contract defenders. That total also funds highly experienced attorneys for homicide and other difficult first-degree felony cases. The grant also gives $119,000 for office equipment, supplies and operating expenses.

Retallick said public defenders make more money than they did when he started 26 years ago, but caseloads are up too, which further justifies a more robust approach to indigent defense.

Added Jenkins, “So many times, when a defense attorney is an independent, they’re turning and burning for all they’re worth, getting everybody through as soon as they can so they can make money. So we’re kind of cutting a little new ground here, and I’m very happy how we’ve come out of the gate.”