ST. LOUIS COUNTY • In a courtroom clash, the prosecutor sits at one table and the defense lawyer at another, balanced in debate over the guilt of the defendant.

Outside the courthouse, the battlefield is a lot less defined as Missouri's public defenders take steps to widen a work slowdown that had drawn the wrath of some prosecutors.

The defenders say they are overworked beyond the breaking point. Some prosecutors say they don't believe it. And the sides cannot agree on a common set of numbers to frame their dispute.

Robert P. McCulloch, the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, has complained that if he can prosecute 100 percent of the criminal cases with 31 trial lawyers, the public defender should be able to handle the 28 percent it represents with its 17 lawyers.

But it's not 28 percent at all, according to Cathy Kelly, deputy director for the Missouri State Public Defender System. "It can't be tracked," she insisted. "None of us are counting cases in the same way."