Low paid public defenders

At least in Kansas public defenders are clearly underpaid.

Prosecutors working for District Attorney Nola Foulston make a median salary of $64,000 a year, according to the most recent numbers available. Foulston makes nearly $136,000.

Public defenders, meanwhile, make a median salary of little more than $44,000 a year.

That salary is so low that one Wichita public defender, German-born Klaus Dieter Mueller,nearly had his visa revoked because U.S. immigration officials considered him "underemployed" because of his pay.01