Missouri governor assigned to be public defender on case

Michael Barrett, the director of Missouri's Public Defender System, wrote in a letter this week that his office lacks the funding to hire enough public defenders for people who can't afford representation.

Nixon spokesman Scott Holste said in a written statement Thursday that the governor has "always supported indigent criminal defendants having legal representation" and that "it is well established that the public defender does not have the legal authority to appoint private counsel."

Lawmakers had approved the increase in June after Barrett warned that his office needs almost twice as many attorneys and that because of their large workloads, public defenders were spending 40 percent less time on cases than private defense attorneys would.