After threatening not to roll back expenses, Georgia's struggling public defenders are begrudgingly slashing the system's budget. Today's decision comes two weeks after leaders angrily defied Gov. Sonny Perdue's order to cut the program's budget by 6 percent. The public defender system, like most other state agencies, was ordered to propose cuts of at least 6 percent to help meet a $1.6 billion shortfall. But the system is in the midst of a sharp budget crisis, as its budget has been cut from $42 million to $35 million over the last three years.
