Pleading the Sixth: Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo signed SB407 into law, releasing control of the state’s public defense system and empowering its independence. This marks the end of a tumultuous year rife with turnover and instability in public defense leadership. Effective tomorrow, July 1, 2025, the Department of Indigent Defense Services (DIDS) Executive Director will| Sixth Amendment Center -
Pleading the Sixth: On Gideon Day, March 18, South Dakota’s Governor signed groundbreaking legislation creating a state commission with authority to oversee right to counsel services statewide with overwhelming support from all three branches of state government and various stakeholders. The nation can now celebrate that, for the first time in its history, every state contributes some amount of| Sixth Amendment Center -
Pleading the Sixth. At the start of 2023, Pennsylvania and South Dakota were the last two states remaining to contribute no funding to indigent defense. This morning, Pennsylvania is no longer on that list. And just last week, the South Dakota Governor publicly supported increasing the state’s role in indigent defense in response to a| Sixth Amendment Center -
