Public defenders are the Amazon of the legal profession. Ridiculous that taxes pay for these charlatans.
The Sixth Amendment of the US Constitution provides that every criminal defendant has the right to legal counsel.
I am a business lawyer and am very conservative politically. In law school, I sneered at the Sixth Amendment's right to counsel, the Fourth Amendment's protection against search and seizures, the exclusionary rule, etc., as liberal crap. It was not until later that I realized that these are important protections against governments run amok, just like the Second Amendment's right to bear arms is an important protection against government run amok. We as conservatives hate and distrust the government just as the founders did. The right of every criminal defendant to be provided with counsel regardless of ability to pay is a protection that we as conservatives should embrace since it helps keep the government in check. It forces the government to prove its case.
The best and the brightest of the legal profession tend not to become public defenders because the money is not very good. They cannot accurately be described as charlatans, however, because they are real lawyers who have passed the bar. I could never do it because I would not be able to defend known criminals in good conscience.