Nearly one year after Hurricane Katrina&8217;s howling winds died down and left a hollow silence across the City of New Orleans, another roar is about to be heard in the Big Easy.

The new roar will be one of disgust at the state justice system&8217;s inability to quickly handle thousands of criminal court cases backlogged since the hurricane came ashore.

Last week, a criminal district judge ruled the cases of some 6,000 defendants would begin being considered Aug. 29, one year after Katrina. Defendants will be released on a case-by-case basis, the judge said.

The storm&8217;s immediate impact was quite visible. Images of demolished buildings and vacant neighborhoods are easy to see and interpret.

Hurricane-related problems in the legal system are more difficult to identify.

The biggest problem has been huge impacts on the state&8217;s indigent defense system, which provides legal representation for defendants who cannot afford hiring their own, private attorneys.

The Orleans Parish indigent defender program, for example, currently has fewer than 30 attorneys working, down from 70 before Katrina.

Further complicating the system is a lack of funding for the program.

Constitutionally, the judge is correct in preparing to release the defendants if something isn&8217;t done soon. Everyone in America is guaranteed a fair, speedy trial with adequate legal representation.

The State of Louisiana needs to get moving and make something happen before potentially guilty defendants are released. A year is enough time to get things sorted out. The problem is, no one has been paying enough attention to the problem.