Things are changing in the way indigent defense services are being provided in the State of Utah. It is, in part, because of Uintah County. The county was one of ten counties that were part of a 124-page report from the Sixth Amendment Center. The report documented challenges and successes of indigent defense services throughout Utah. The report lead the state Legislature to create the Utah Indigent Defense Commission in 2016. The IDC is starting to gain the roots to provide real change. Governor Gary Herbert has committed a historic increase of $5 million dollars to his budget for fiscal year 2020 to fund IDC. According to IDC Director Joanna Landau, that means that, if adopted by lawmakers, Uintah Basin counties could apply for supplemental funding to start in July 2019. “The IDC also offers other resources to local governments, in addition to funding,” shares Landau, “to help each contract for and provide constitutionally-effective defense services and sufficient defense resources to their constituents.”
