With Deason Center Support State-Funded Pilot Brings Day One Public Defense to Rural Mississippi

State Public Defender André de Gruy (left) and Day One pilot program executive director Richard Carter stand in front of the newly opened office in Kosciusko, Mississippi.

DALLAS (SMU) – On Tuesday, Mississippi's Office of State Public Defender, with support from the Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center, opened the doors of its Day One pilot office. The office is dedicated to providing high-quality, client-centered public defender services to people within the first 24 hours of their arrest. While officials cut the ribbon this week, the Day One pilot office began taking new cases in October of 2025.

During its first three months, the pilot office represented 44 clients facing more than 50 felony charges. Pilot office attorneys successfully advocated pre-trial release for 20 people charged with non-violent felonies.

"Programs like this can transform rural criminal court systems,” David Anderson, director of the Deason Center's Day One Campaign, said. "Judges will have more information to make better pretrial release decisions; people who don't need to be in jail can get home faster to their jobs and families; and counties will save money by reducing unnecessary detention.”

"The Constitution of the United States and of Mississippi require courts to appoint counsel for people accused of a crime who cannot afford a lawyer,” said State Public Defender André de Gruy. "But in rural areas, where lawyers are scarce, fulfilling this constitutional right poses a heavy burden on counties.”

The pilot office not only brings additional public defense capacity to an under-resourced area, but it also seeks to connect people with public defenders within 24 hours of arrest. During the office’s first three months, its attorneys interviewed 37 people within 24 hours of their arrest. Pilot attorneys say that their prompt representation has helped prosecutors evaluate new cases more quickly and with better information.

The Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center has been an essential partner throughout the planning, formation, and start-up of the pilot office — helping design the pilot program, launch the office, and evaluate the outcomes of the pilot’s work. Started with a $700,000 appropriation from the state legislature, the Mississippi Day One pilot office marks the first substantial state investment in rural trial-level public defense.

The pilot office serves seven counties in Mississippi's rural Fifth Circuit Court District: Attala, Carroll, Choctaw, Grenada, Montgomery, Webster, and Winston. Located in Kosciusko in a previously vacant storefront, the office is staffed by three attorneys, an investigator, an office administrator, and a data coordinator.

The national Day One campaign is a Deason Center initiative to end the unfair and dangerous delays that people face in seeing a judge and meeting with an attorney. The campaign’s goal is to ensure every indigent defendant receives:
- a first appearance in court within 24 hours of arrest
- a lawyer's assistance before and during initial appearance
- continuous and active representation until their case is resolved

In addition to launching the Mississippi Day One office, the Deason Center has helped achieve substantial Day One reforms in North Dakota, Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas.

Contact: Jamal Andress, jamalandress@gmail.com, 713-775-4592

The Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at SMU Dedman School of Law brings a stats and stories approach to criminal justice reform. The Center collects, analyzes, and assesses the hard data about criminal legal policy. Combining these data with the stories of people who live, work and struggle in the criminal legal system, the Deason Center makes a compelling case for reform. The Center supports data-driven criminal justice research that has utility across multiple jurisdictions and helps criminal legal stakeholders develop and implement best practices.

The School of Law at SMU was founded in 1925. It was named Dedman School of Law in 2001 in honor of Dallas benefactors Nancy and Robert H. Dedman, Sr., and their family. SMU Dedman Law enjoys a national and international reputation of distinction. It is among the most competitive law schools in the country for admission and one of the most successful in the placement of its graduates.

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