I feel obligated to respond to this.

In all disclosure, I have, and do, work under contract for the Office of Assigned Counsel (OAC). When there is a case with multiple defendants, the OAC steps in to provide independent representation so there is no conflict of interest.

I'm a family law attorney by trade, but started working for OAC during the gap that occurs between law school and passing the bar. I started as basically a paralegal, and once I was barred I continued taking side work from OAC because honestly they need help from people who are passionately dedicated.

Now, I just spent all day in court in a high profile case, which myself and others have posted about, that involves 15 defendants, including rapper "Tiny Doo." What I have seen in this case is an abuse of prosecution, and exceptional representation by publicly paid attorneys. Because of these efforts almost all charges were dropped against my client and others. I believe only one attorney for all fifteen defendants was privately hired, and I know for a fact that it was very financially challenging for that defendants family to hire that attorney.

The OAC pays me exactly 1/5th of what I bill my own clients. That's it. Seriously. But, with that said, my client, and as far as I can tell about almost all the other defendants, received top notch service. The case was and is complex, involve thousands and thousands of wiretap calls, hundreds of hours of recorded jail calls, and thousands of pages of police reports. I can't estimate the fortune of our tax dollars which were spent in this prosecution. I genuinely believe that money was wasted. There were only a few of the defendants bound over today, and of those at least half shouldn't have been, and will probably be found not guilty after trial.

The public defender system isn't the problem. The tactics and egos of the prosecution is the problem. They go for blood, even when it's clear that the defendant is probably innocent. They want convictions. It's the only way they can move up in the ranks, which is in turn the only way they can hope to eventually become a judge, or get a cushy job as in-house counsel somewhere.

The public defense system isn't perfect, but it is supervised by the judges who hear the cases. Defendants who are convicted regularly appeal, and almost always claim Ineffective Assistance of Counsel (IAC). The attorneys are rigorously investigated, drilled by the judge, and all the complaints are taken seriously. I have been the target of such an investigation. It's disheartening when you give your all to a client for a pittance, and are thrown under the bus. Luckily, because I take my job so seriously, I have had no negative repercussions from IAC claims, other than a waste of my time (for no compensation) cooperating and assisting in these investigations. I have even had a client apologize in advance and tell me not to take it personally, but it doesn't take away the frustration.

Shit this is a wall of writing. My first TL;DR: This is a free service to defendants, who usually get top notch representation from experienced attorneys who really seek justice, and in return we get treated like shit.