Tommy Vaughn knows his clients may be distrustful when a court appoints him to handle their case. Without enough money to hire their own lawyer, defendants are often suspicious that court-appointed attorneys will provide a poor defense or just try to coerce a quick guilty plea. “I kind of assume that’s what they’re thinking when I first meet them,” said Vaughn, who has worked as a defense attorney in Texas for 2½ years. The issue of trust has long been part of a larger discussion about the quality of indigent defense in the U.S. Now, the Central Texas county where...
