Proposed defense attorney pay raise throws up sparks
By Joe Taitano II
Pacific Daily News
A proposal to equalize pay for public defenders and prosecutors working in Guam’s criminal justice system has sparked a dispute between the Attorney General Doug Moylan and Stephen Hattori, head of the Public Defender Service Corp.
Moylan in a letter to lawmakers said the proposal, made in Sen. Roy Quinata’s Bill 33, “poses a clear & present danger to the protection and safety of this (community).”
Hattori, the executive director of the Public Defender Service Corp, called the response “hypocritical and absurd.”
Public defenders got a 6% pay bump in the government of Guam’s fiscal year 2023 budget act, but that raise was outpaced by a 15% pay differential tacked on to the salary for prosecutors in the same law.
Public Defender Service Corp. Executive Director Stephen Hattori
Hattori\
Public Defender Service Corp.
Quinata’s bill would give criminal defense attorneys a “special pay” equal to 15% of their regular wage, starting next calendar year.
“Pay parity for public defenders is of paramount importance and pursuing special pay for them works best when legal minds and competent counsel tackle Guam’s most vulnerable in court and in our community,” Quinata said in a news release.
Moylan, in his letter, countered that there aren’t enough lawyers to meet all of Guam’s legal needs as it is. There’s competition to secure attorneys, he said, and defense attorneys on the government payroll already are well compensated.
“(This bill) will weaken government corruption prosecutions, and weaken the rest of the office to have enough attorneys to collect child support, protect consumers in our Consumer Protection Division, and provide overall civil legal work to the entire government of Guam,” he wrote.
Moylan said he was in the process of rebuilding his office, which had just eight of the 21 prosecutors needed upon his swearing in. The pay incentive was helping to reel in new recruits, but eliminating that advantage would hamstring efforts.
Moylan suggested lawmakers make it public policy that prosecutors are the most important attorneys, adding that without them the community would be “in danger of being over-run by the criminals.”
Bill 33 would help Guam become the “crime capitol of the Pacific,” the attorney general said.
When asked for comment, Hattori responded at length via WhatsApp.
The idea that the AG’s office would lose attorneys because public defenders could provide the same salary was illogical, Hattori said. A pay disparity between public defenders would undermine the legitimacy of the criminal legal system in the eyes of the public.
He said the nature of defense attorney work made recruiting difficult and his lawyers had to deal with clientele that has justified pay differentials for police officers and the Department of Corrections.
“Ask any attorney who has been both a prosecutor and a defense attorney. We have lost attorneys to this inequity,” Hattori said, adding that four of the attorneys at the AG’s general crime unit have been public defenders.
In addition, the Eighth Amendment and 14th Amendment obligate GovGuam to provide effective legal representation when an indigent person was at risk of losing their liberty, he said. The Legislature had tipped the scales of justice in favor of the government, stacking the deck against his office’s clients.
“Balance can be required one of two ways: removing the differential or applying it equally. We don’t want their prosecutors to lose it. A rising tide lifts all ships,” Hattori said.
He and his colleagues have written senators asking for their support, and a hearing on Bill 33.