JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - A Missouri judge has tossed out the state’s public defender agency’s lawsuit over Gov. Jay Nixon’s budgeting authority and decision to withhold millions of dollars in funds from the agency that defends the indigent.
A Cole County judge, in a ruling made public Friday, sided with Nixon in the lawsuit the Missouri State Public Defender system and the state’s Public Defender Commission filed in July.
The plaintiffs alleged Nixon cut their budget while no general revenue was restricted from Nixon’s own budget.
The system’s director, Michael Barrett, had called the move political.
In August, Barrett appointed Nixon, the state’s former attorney general, to a case in protest. A judge later blocked that move.
A message left Friday with Barrett wasn’t immediately returned.
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