The right to an attorney in trial is promised in Amendment 6 of the Bill of Rights. In the 1960s, the Supreme Court ruled that if someone cannot afford an attorney, it is the burden of government to provide one for them.

Pennsylvania has failed this duty, according to a recent lawsuit from the Pennsylvania ACLU.

“Right now we have 67 counties doing things 67 different ways,” Veronica Miller said, senior policy director on criminal legal reform for Pennsylvania ACLU.

The lawsuit was filed last year. As the General Assembly continues to meet ahead of June’s budget deadline, the organization is advocating for change now even as legal proceedings continue.

Until 2023, Pennsylvania was the only state in the nation that never gave state money to public defender's offices, leaving the burden to county budgets.

“It’s difficult to get attorneys to move to Bradford county, just because you can make more money in other parts of the state,” Patrick Beirne said, chief public defender for Bradford county.

There are two public defenders in Bradford, managing hundreds of cases each year. A 2024 report from Penn Carey Law says Bradford’s public defender’s work an average of 6,674 hours a year. That is the 6th worst average in the entire state.

"Attorneys are leaving because caseloads are too high and there is a problem with recruitment,” Miller said. “Because we have not given public defenders the same status in the profession that they deserve.”

Now, for the past two years, the state has given $7.5 million to public defense offices. Most counties got around $100,000.

“We were able to get some equipment that helps us add to our making things a little smoother here in the office,” Beirne said, referencing new software that helps organize the office’s cases electronically.

The office also increased their private investigator fund—a resource naturally built into prosecutor offices.

“The state has detectives, they have police departments that can do a lot of the legwork for them, and we don't have that,” Beirne said.

The ACLU of Pennsylvania says $7.5 million is not enough to bridge the resource gaps that have built in counties. When lawyers are spread too thin on multiple cases, it can lead to them being in violation of state rules and Constitutional rights.

“If you were charged with a crime, you certainly would want due process,” Beirne said. “And in order to have due processes, you need to have funds available so that we can help these folks and represent them with quality representation.”