A state public defender's office accepts the representation of indigent criminal defendants, voluntarily or through court appointment.
Given the staffing of the office, the lawyers in the office had so many pending cases that they could not accept another matter because new representations would threaten the lawyers' ability to competently and diligently represent all of the clients in the office.
A judge appointed a lawyer in the public defender's office to represent an individual charged with burglary.
When the lawyer explained the excessive caseload in the office, the judge said, "Any representation is better than no representation." May the lawyer refuse the representation of the individual? Group of answer choices
A. Yes, because accepting the court appointment would violate the lawyer's ability to competently and diligently represent the clients in the public defender's office.
B. Yes, because lawyers working in a public defender's office are not subject to the traditional obligation of lawyers to accept all court appointments.
C. No, because the judge made the court appointment after considering the excessive workload currently managed by the public defender's office.
D. No, because the individual would be better off with a lawyer overloaded with cases as opposed to having no lawyer at all.