russellsmith
Member
toms shoes outlet ST. THOMAS - After widespread funding cuts implemented as part of the federal cheap toms online sequester, the federal judiciary in the Virgin Islands still is sorting out exactly how the spending cuts will impact the territory."We are still currently evaluating the impact of the sequester on District Court operations," said attorney Glenda Lake, clerk of court for the V.I. District Court. "We have not yet made any solid determinations."While district courts around the nation are warning that sequester cuts will cause definite reductions in service, Lake said the court in the Virgin Islands does not yet know the percentage or dollar amount that the sequester will cost."We have not yet made those determinations," she said Friday.The U.S. Attorney's Office, meanwhile, would not provide any details specific to the territory. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kim Chisholm referred questions to the federal Office of Management and Budget, which in turn routed questions to the U.S. Justice Department's public affairs office.A Justice Department press secretary offered a big-picture look at the sequester's impact: $100 million in cuts from the current budget for the entire U.S. Attorney community.The spokeswoman said the Justice Department anticipates that, nationwide, U.S. Attorney's Offices will handle 1,600 fewer civil cases and 1,000 fewer criminal cases because of the cuts.She also referenced a Feb. 1 letter that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. wrote to the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee regarding the sequester.In the letter, Holder calls attention to $1.6 billion in cuts from the Justice Department's overall budget, affecting operations in everything from the FBI to the Federal Bureau of Prisons.Holder also points out that U.S. Attorneys Offices nationwide resulted in $14 billion in collections from civil and criminal fines, restitutions and other debts."Staffing reductions, which would result in fewer prosecutions, could drastically reduce the USA community's ability to collect billions of dollars owed to the government," Holder wrote.Edson Bostic, who runs the Federal Public Defender Offices for Delaware and the Virgin Islands, said his office in the territory is coping with a net 10.25 percent budget cut, about half of which is because of the sequester, in the second half of the fiscal year.The V.I. office will absorb the cut by buying out one staff member's contract in June, he said. Bostic pointed out that this is a less-severe result than in his Delaware office, which is facing between 16 and 20 furlough days because of the Fiscal Year 2013 cuts. However, any staffing reductions can put a defendant's right to adequate counsel at risk, he said."When you have these severe cuts, it undermines the notion that one is entitled to have competent counsel that can fully and effectively represent an individual," Bostic said. "With every criminal case, there may be a need for experts or different investigative techniques one needs to employ, and when you're short-staffed or you begin to furlough people, you can see how that has an impact on indigents' ability to get an effective defense."Bostic vowed that no matter what Congress does with funding for his office, he will ensure that defendants receive zealous representation, as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution."There is nothing I will ever do that will compromise our ability to represent an indigent defendant," he said. "If it comes to that, I will go to the court and say, 'We cannot do this and be effective.' "- Contact reporter Lou Mattei at 714-9124 or email lmattei@dailynews.vi. cheap toms online