You have these honest-to-god human beings, and you know that some of them are slipping through the cracks.

This is public defense in America.

Hey, here's your 200 cases. You have court in 20 minutes. It's across the street.

A huge part of the justice system.

You also have a right to an attorney. If you can't afford an attorney, one can be provided.

But one that's been struggling for far too long with too many clients.

I feel the stress of 150 souls on my back.

Not enough money and too few lawyers.

A warm body with a pulse and a law license is not enough.

From the PBS News Hour, a new series, Broken Justice.

We'll take you to Missouri, the front lines of the public defense crisis in America,

to show you what it looks like for these lawyers.

You end up with a system of putting out fires, and those fires are people's lives.

And how it can play out for defendants.

Like Ricky Kidd, who 22 years ago was sentenced to life in prison for double homicide.

I 100% believe that I'm in prison today because of the Missouri public defender system.

And how he learned the hard way that the promise of a lawyer didn't mean he would get a fair shot.

It's been rough.

They've isolated after life without possibly to parole. Something like that didn't mean he would get a fair shot. It's been rough. They've been roughed like his life without possibly to parole for seven or eight even two.

Broken Justice launches on November 6th.

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