. >> there's a huge crowd of people waiting to get into the fresno county courthouse. 've been told this is a typical volume for the county. >> 64 public defenders handle over 33,000 cases each year. a fourth of fresno's population lives at or below the poverty line if they get in trouble with the law, a private attorney is not an easy option. in the years after the 2008 financial crisis, public defense was hit hard by budget cuts. >> so this is where all the decisions about the money get made? >> right. right here. >> henry perea sits on the county board of supervisors. after a round of cuts, the county's chief public defender warned the office would have to start turning away cases. >> as a board majority we understood, we took them to bare bones, and we ok them below bare bones. >> but years later, the county was still struggling. scott baly is the president of the public defenders union. >> the lawyers got together and signed this letter, and sent it to our boss and said we can't go on like this anymore. something has to change. >> more than three dozen public defen