MEDINA – The experiment launched last year to assign public defenders to some felony cases in Medina Common Pleas Court appears to be a success.

Chief Public Defender Jocelyn Stefancin reported to county commissioners her office handled 86 felony cases in 2016, the first year common pleas court judges had assigned some indigent defendants a public defender instead of a court-appointed attorney.

“The folks I’ve talked to say they’ve done a nice job,” County Commissioner Adam Friedrick said of the public defenders. “The two judges seem to agree that the Public Defenders Commission has been sending competent attorneys to appear in their courts.”

Stefancin represents defendants in Judge Joyce Kimbler’s court and Chad Mulkey is assigned to Judge Christopher Collier’s court.

The expanded use of public defenders also represents a cost savings for the county. Stefancin estimates her office saved the county about $32,000 in legal fees last year.

Stefancin’s estimate is based on statistics compiled by the Office of the Ohio Public Defender, which indicate the average cost per case for a court-appointed attorney across the state is about $725. The average cost for felony cases handled by public defenders in Medina County last year was about $340.

“If we can continue to expand our services with felony (fourth-degree and fifth-degree) appointments, I think you’ll see some significant savings in terms of the county budget,” Stefancin said.

About 800 felony cases a year are opened in Medina County Common Pleas Court. The Public Defender’s Office is being appointed on some fourth-and fifth-degree felony cases, which include charges like drug possession, trafficking in drugs, receiving stolen property and domestic violence cases.

State law requires people arrested for crimes that could result in their incarceration be represented by an attorney appointed by the courts if they don’t have their own attorney. Those attorney fees are paid for by local taxpayers with partial reimbursement by the state.

Stefancin said legal fees for court appointed lawyers are typically $40 or $50 per hour. Those fees amounted to well over $600,000 in Medina County in 2015 with the state contributing about $300,000 toward those costs.

The Public Defender Commission was created in 2003 in an effort to reduce the county’s costs. Most of the cases handled by public defenders are opened in municipal and juvenile court.

Stefancin reports her staff of six attorneys opened 1,002 cases in Medina Municipal Court last year, 497 in Wadsworth Municipal Court and 352 in Medina County Juvenile Court.