And Missouri’s lead public defender has ordered Missouri Governor Jay Nixon to represent a poor defendant in court later this month, in efforts to protest Nixon’s refusal to sufficiently fund the Public Defender’s Office. Public defender Michael Barrett says he is using a state law that allows him to delegate a client’s legal representation to any lawyer in Missouri. Governor Nixon is a lawyer. Barrett said Nixon has declined to give the public defender system the money it requests. Nixon is also withholding promised funding increases this year.