NEWNAN - Coweta County is starting a public defender's office after being accused of funneling hundreds of people who had no legal representation into prison. <br>
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A group of attorneys in Atlanta filed suit in Coweta County Superior Court last August. They asked a judge to mandate a public defender system for the county south of Atlanta. <br>
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The suit sayd poor defendants are routinely sent to prison without being given access to lawyers. <br>
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County commissioners have signed a contract with a Newnan law firm -- Rosenzweig, Jones and MacNabb -- in what could lead to a settlement of the case. The firm will provide attorneys as full-time public defenders in a contract that begins August first and lasts for a year. <br>
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The contract is for $372,000. <br>
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Stephen Bright is director of the Southern Center for Human Rights -- one of the groups representing more than two dozen plaintiffs, who were accused criminals. <br>
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He calls the public defender's office a ``step closer'' to settling the case but says court orders are needed to settle the lawsuit.
