Texas County Applying Voucher System To Public Defense

A county in Texas is attempting to apply  free-market principles to the public defense system, allowing defendants to choose and pay for their lawyer via vouchers. The voucher method – which officials in Comal County, Texas, call  “client choice” – stands in contrast to how a Seattle Federal District Court chose to address the same problem in Washington state: by appointing a supervisor to oversee the public defense service for the first time in U.S. history.