FY24 COST PER FELONY LETTER FOR OLD.PDF

Office of Legal Defender 
 
Sherri McGuire Lawson 
Director  
 
222 North Central Avenue,  
Suite 8100 
Phoenix, AZ 85004 
 
P: 602.506 8800 
F: 602.506 8862 
 
Maricopa.gov 
 
Memo To: 
Honorable Joseph Welty, Presiding Judge 
Honorable Jack Sellers, Chairman, Board of Supervisors, District 1 
Honorable Thomas Galvin, Vice Chairman, Board of Supervisors, District 2 
Honorable Bill Gates, Board of Supervisors, District 3 
Honorable Clint Hickman, Board of Supervisors, District  
Honorable Steve Gallardo, Board of Supervisors, District 5 
Michael Cimino, Chief Adult Probation Officer 
 
From:  Sherri McGuire Lawson, Legal Defender 
Date:  October 2, 2024 
Subject: Legal Defender Cost per Case Annual Report 
Pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes Section 11-584(B)(2), I am submitting 
to you this document which provides the average cost of defending a felony 
case in this law office.  Our felony costs, which average $3,028.89 per case, 
include complex cases and capital cases.   
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions. 
 
 
 
 
 
cc: 
Jen Pokorski, County Manager 
 
Juanita Garza, Clerk of the Board 
 
Raymond Billotte, Court Administrator 
 
 
 
Division 
 Direct Expenses 
Plus Administrative 
Allocation 
Cases 
Assigned
1 
 Cost Per 
Case  
Adult Felony 
       $11,179,249.58  
4,312 
    
$3,028.89  
 
 
 
 
 
7,491,357.65 
5,979 
1,263.72  
1"Cases Assigned" are calculated as total cases opened during the time-period, minus cases closed during the time-
period with the following dispositions: no complaint, administrative transfer, withdrawal due to workload, withdrawal 
due to conflict, withdrawal due to lack of client contact/participation, and withdrawal due to retention of private 
counsel.