Darryl Brown, a law professor at the University of Virginia and a former public defender, said the public defenders have always struggled to find consistent public support throughout the country, not just in Virginia. “There’s never been a good solution for how to sustain that public funding for an unpopular cause,” Brown said. “There are definitely places where the public defenders are just inexcusably overworked and overburdened and can’t possibly do a good job. On the other hand, there are pretty good studies comparing public defender representation to private attorney representation for po...