The New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU) is pushing to turn around New York State's public defender program.

The NYCLU is filing a lawsuit claiming that the current state defender program is inadequate.

Kimberly Hurrel-Harring of Rochester was named in the suit. She claimed an upstate public defender pressured her into pleading guilty to a felony arrest of sneaking marijuana into a prison to her husband.

Gary Pudup, of the Genesee Valley Chapter of the NYCLU, said in some cases public defenders are overwhelmed and undertrained to their assigned counsel. This lawsuit will hopefully push to change that.

"We're hoping that what this lawsuit will end up doing is have some standardization, some resources put towards this so that no matter where anybody's arrest, no matter their class, no matter their status, they will get that meaningful and effective counsel," Pudup said.

The Court of Appeals will hold a hearing for the case March 23.

NYCLU - Genesee Valley