COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – Branch County has submitted its contract with the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission.
Branch County Commissioner Terri Norris said during the Board of Commissioners work session Tuesday that with the contract signed, the first payment should come to the county in about two weeks.
The next step is to hire a public defender for the Branch County program.
Branch County Administrator Bud Norman said in his Commissioner’s Monthly Report that M.I.D.C. Executive Director Loren Khogali told legislators the Commission has approved 134 local government plans to create and implement local indigent defense programs.
Each county in Michigan was required to create an indigent defense plan due to a 2012 lawsuit. Part of the settlement called for the State of Michigan to implement a plan so that a defendant who was indigent would have proper legal representation.
