Concerned about a growing number of poor defendants who are without attorneys and can't be adequately represented by the city's indigent defenders office, a criminal court judge on Monday suspended their prosecution and ordered those still in jail released.

WWL-TV

Orleans Parish Criminal Court.

Judge Arthur Hunter Jr. halted prosecution of 98 defendants, and ordered 20 still held in jail to be released. Last month, he suspended prosecution for 42 other poor defendants.

"Either the court or an attorney will be in contact with you," Hunter told dozens of unrepresented defendants in his courtroom. The charges were not dropped, he stressed, but until they get lawyers they would not be prosecuted.

"That is wrong, we will oppose that," Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan said. His office planned to file an emergency request to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeal to block the actual release of any prisoners.

"We don't think the answer is to release people onto the streets," Jordan said.

Hunter is the only judge among the 13 in Orleans Parish Criminal Court suspending prosecution or releasing prisoners, Jordan pointed out.

"If this judge is correct, defendants in every court around the state will be released," Jordan said.

Jordan was not sure what the charges against the latest group of defendants were, but he said they were probably mostly drug charges and some cases of theft.

Jordan said he felt Hunter was taking the right steps in trying to find private attorneys to represent those poor defendants the public defenders office could not handle. But Jordan had no answer for how those attorneys should be paid for their services. Hunter doubted that would take care of the problem, however.

"Simply appointing a private attorney does not appear to be the solution, and it is clear the appointment of private attorneys will present the court with the same problem facing the public defender's office -- inadequate funding," Hunter said in his latest ruling.

Hunter said the court will continue notifying private attorneys asking them to represent poor defendants.

For months, Hunter has been battling what he sees as the office's inability to adequately represent the city's hundreds of poor defendants since Hurricane Katrina wrecked the criminal justice system.

Problems with the system became glaring after the storm, when thousands of jailed pretrial inmates were scattered to prisons across the state. Most waited for months for any contact with a lawyer.

Before the hurricane hit, three-quarters of the defenders' office's budget was financed by traffic court fines. That revenue dried up after Katrina devastated the city in August 2005. A justice department study said the office needs between $7 million and $10 million a year to operate.

The state has responsibility for providing funding for attorney's for the poor, Hunter said.

"What is so irritating, difficult and troubling about this enter mess is that the state has a budget surplus of $3 billion, $827 million left over from 2006, $1.2 billion for 2007, and another $1.2 billion expected in 2008," Hunter said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)