Public Defenseless 424 | If You Cannot Afford an Attorney, None Will Be Appointed to You w/Andrew Davies and Shelby Sirivore
Dec 4, 2025
Andrew Davies, Director of Research at the Deason Center, and Shelby Sirivore, an independent contractor, delve into the complexities of indigent defense in Texas. They discuss how local policies can drastically affect access to legal representation for those who can’t afford an attorney. The duo highlights the alarming disparity in indigency thresholds across counties and examines trends in appointed counsel rates. They also explore how rural public defender offices mitigate attorney shortages, showing that these offices significantly increase representation for the unrepresented.
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Wide County Variation In Misdemeanor Representation
- Misdemeanor defendants in Texas face wildly inconsistent access to counsel across counties.
- Some counties appoint counsel for nearly all defendants while others appoint none, creating systemic inequality.
Build Multi‑Source Datasets To Reveal Gaps
- Use combined state data, census demographics, and manual coding of local indigency plans to study access to counsel.
- Reconstruct missing records by reviewing original case files when statewide reporting is incomplete.
Eligibility Rules Drive Non‑Representation
- County eligibility rules for appointed counsel strongly predict who ends up unrepresented.
- Tighter income cutoffs correlate with significantly higher non-representation rates, not just fewer appointments.