Monroe County may be changing how to delivers legal services to those who cannot afford it.
The Sixth Amendment Center recommended a new delivery model for the county’s defender system in a report released on Monday, Aug. 3.
The independent report was initiated to determine if the current Managed Assigned Counsel model was efficient. The center conducted its analysis study from November 2025 to June 2026, with the findings revealing “an indigent defense system that lacks effective quality oversight and fiscal accountability of right to counsel services.”
“Monroe County strongly believes in providing quality right to counsel services for the community so that we have a fair justice system,” county’s board of commissioners chairman, David Vensel, said in a statement. “We will do what it takes to make sure of this as we move forward.”
The report recommended that Monroe County seek Michigan Indigent Defense Commission grant funding to create a new delivery model that provides improved oversight and fiscal accountability. Specifically, they recommended a hybrid model combining government-employed public defenders and private attorneys to represent the those who can’t afford lawyers.
“The Sixth Amendment Center applauds Monroe County leaders for requesting this timely and important study – identifying the county’s indigent defense issues is a critical step toward ensuring every indigent person is provided an effective attorney,” said the center’s executive director, Aditi Goel.
The analysis was requested because the county had concerns about their current model, in which private attorneys on a roster are assigned cases along with misdemeanor attorneys in the indigent defense office, according to the office’s administrator and managing attorney, Mary Gantos. One of these concerns was that the attorneys were overloaded with clients. Before changing systems, however, they needed an independent analysis to present to the MIDC.
Vensel said a decision hasn’t been made whether the county will move toward a hybrid system.
According to Gantos, the report cost $50,000. The full report can be read here: https://www.co.monroe.mi.us/DocumentCenter/View/6150/6AC_Report_MonroeCounty2026.
— Contact reporter Connor Veenstra at CVeenstra@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Monroe County urged to revamp public defender system
Reporting by Connor Veenstra, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
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By Connor Veenstra, The Monroe News | USA TODAY Network
