Cupboard bare for poor's legal aid

Paul Purpura
The Times-Picayune

Jefferson Parish public defenders will lose half their salaries in two weeks and layoffs are possible in the coming months because the number of traffic citations, the main financing source for indigent defense in Louisiana, have dropped off dramatically since Hurricane Katrina.

The pinch to pay public defenders, lawyers appointed by the courts to defend people who can't afford legal representation, is being felt in other parishes affected by the storm, including Orleans, St. Tammany and Plaquemines.

Source: http://www.nola.com/news/t-p/metro/index.ssf?/base/news-11/113091526671970.xml