Opinion ID: 1918099
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Maximum Income Level.

Text: (1) Except as provided in § D(3) of this regulation, the maximum net annual income level for persons accepted for representation in District Court cases, violation of probation, and contempt proceedings may not exceed 100 percent of the current official federal poverty income guidelines as found in § 673(2) of OBRA-1981 (42 U.S.C. § 9902(2)). (2) Except as provided in § D(3) of this regulation, the maximum net annual income level for persons accepted for representation in all other cases may not exceed 110 percent of the current official federal poverty income guidelines as found in § 673(2) of OBRA-1981 (42 U.S.C. § 9902(2)). (3) In cases where good cause is shown, a district public defender or division chief may exempt an applicant from the maximum income level requirement upon due consideration of factors enumerated in Regulation .05 of this chapter. COMAR 14.06.03.05 (emphasis added). By evaluating Stinnett's application solely under the maximum net annual income and asset ceiling standard of COMAR 14.06.03.05A and D(2), while ignoring wholly the statutorily-mandated indigency factors contained in Art. 27A, § 7(a), and COMAR 14.06.03.05A, the local OPD applied the incorrect standard for determining indigency of applicants and erred, both legally and factually, in concluding that Stinnett did not qualify for representation by its attorneys. [12] See Medstar Health v. Maryland Health Care Comm'n, 376 Md. 1, 21, 827 A.2d 83, 96 (2003) (Moreover, where the General Assembly has delegated... broad power to an administrative agency to adopt [legislative rules] or regulations [in a particular area], this Court has upheld the agency's rule or regulations as long as they did not contradict the language or purpose of the statute.) (internal quotation marks omitted); Christ v. Dep't of Natural Res., 335 Md. 427, 437, 644 A.2d 34, 38 (1994) (Regulations promulgated by an administrative agency must, of course, be consistent with the letter and spirit of the law under which the agency acts.) (internal quotation marks omitted); Dep't of Soc. Servs. v. Russell, 159 Md.App. 594, 611, 861 A.2d 92, 102 (2004) (Where the language of a statute differs from relevant language in a departmental regulation, the statutory language must control.). Stinnett's testimony before the Circuit Court regarding his inability to afford private counsel demonstrated clearly that, under a proper evaluation of the indigency factors listed in Art. 27A, § 7(a), he qualified as indigent for purposes of representation by the local OPD. As noted supra, according to the Circuit Court's calculations, the defendant's net income totaled $2123 per month, falling well below the $2534 in expenses he incurred each month. In addition, the trial judge determined that the reasonable cost of a private attorney in Stinnett's case would be between $3,000 and $5,000. As such, the Circuit Court found properly that Stinnett qualified as indigent under Art. 27A, § 7(a), the applicable standard for determining indigency, and that the local OPD's conclusion to the contrary, based solely on the maximum net annual income level and asset ceiling language of COMAR 14.06.03.05A and D(2), was erroneous and contrary to law. After concluding properly that Stinnett, in fact, was indigent under Art. 27A, § 7, the trial court appointed Northrop, the Deputy District Public Defender for Cecil County, or, alternatively, another attorney from the local OPD or its list of panel attorneys, to represent Stinnett. On appeal, OPD contends that the Circuit Court's actions in this regard exceeded its authority, and that, although a circuit court may appoint counsel for an indigent defendant who has been denied representation by the local OPD, the circuit court may not appoint an attorney from the local OPD once the local OPD declines representation of the defendant. For reasons we shall explain, we disagree and hold that, upon finding that the local OPD denied erroneously representation to an indigent defendant, a circuit court may appoint any attorney, including an attorney from the local OPD, to represent a defendant. We previously addressed the statutory division of labor between the courts and the local OPD, with regard to assuring legal representation to indigent individuals, in Thompson v. State, 284 Md. 113, 394 A.2d 1190 (1978). In Thompson, the OPD determined, at an initial proceeding, that the defendant was technically eligible for representation, although it noted to the trial court that, despite having no income, the defendant managed to post $750 for a surety bond. Id. at 127, 394 A.2d at 1197. Two weeks later, at a subsequent hearing, the defendant requested that the court appoint counsel to represent him, having failed to acquire private representation on his own. Id. at 127-28, 394 A.2d at 1197. At that hearing, the OPD maintained to the court that it determined at its initial interview with the defendant that, in fact, he did not qualify for representation and that it informed the defendant that it would not represent him. Id. at 128, 394 A.2d at 1197. Apparently, the OPD wanted to leave it up to the court, making clear that if the court so ordered [it] would provide representation. Id. Rather than make an independent determination of the defendant's alleged indigency, the trial court accepted in full the OPD's conclusion that the defendant was not entitled to have representation provided, stating that you tell me he is not eligible and that is good enough for me. Id. at 130, 394 A.2d at 1198. We reversed the trial court, holding that it erred by failing to determine independently whether to appoint counsel under Art. 27A, § 6(f), [13] following the local OPD's denial of representation. Id. at 128, 394 A.2d at 1197. Specifically, we observed that there is a clear duty imposed on the court, in order to decide whether it should appoint counsel, upon the Public Defender declining to do so, to make its own independent determination whether a defendant is indigent and otherwise eligible to have counsel provided. Id. at 129, 394 A.2d at 1198. Regarding the OPD's representation to the court that it would represent the defendant if the court so ordered, we stated, in dicta and without citation to authority, that [t]he court refused to so order, properly we believe, on the ground that the question whether the Public Defender represented a particular defendant was for the Public Defender and not for the court. Id. at 128, 394 A.2d at 1197. [14] Four years after our decision in Thompson, the Court of Special Appeals, in Baldwin, observed, also in dicta, that Thompson seemed to hold that if the Public Defender declines to represent a defendanteven on grounds of non-eligibility (as opposed to a potential conflict of interest)the court has no authority to order him to provide representation. Baldwin, 51 Md.App. at 552, 444 A.2d at 1067. In a footnote, the intermediate appellate court conjectured further that [i]t would appear from [the language of Thompson ], by logical extension, that, although the court may appoint any other qualified counsel to represent an indigent defendant, it may not appoint the Public Defender against his wish. Id. at 552 n. 11, 444 A.2d at 1067. This question, however, was not at the core of Baldwin. Rather, the Court of Special Appeals reversed the trial court based on the latter's refusal to appoint counsel for the defendant on the ground that the trial court, in making its required independent determination of indigency, violated Art. 27A, § 7(a), by relying improperly upon inferences of wealth for which there is no support in the record and upon resources over which [the defendant] had no control. Id. at 554, 444 A.2d at 1068. In the present appeal, the OPD and the Dissent rely heavily on the above quoted language, and other dicta in Thompson and Baldwin, [15] to support their contentions that, where the OPD declines representation, a reviewing court is powerless to correct a manifest error in the local OPD's determination of eligibility by appointing the local OPD as counsel for the indigent defendant. [16] Such dicta is wholly unpersuasive, particularly in light of the statutory scheme designed by the General Assembly to govern the respective responsibilities of the OPD and the courts in determining whether a criminal defendant qualifies as indigent and whether such individual is entitled to representation paid for by the taxpayers. Under Art. 27A, § 7, the  initial determination, under the law, is to be made by the Public Defender, based upon the criteria enumerated in the statute for determining indigency. Baldwin, 51 Md.App. at 551, 444 A.2d at 1066 (emphasis added). The OPD's initial determination of indigency is not final, however, because [i]n obvious recognition of the fact that the whole system has Constitutional underpinnings and that the courts must, of necessity, be the ultimate protector of those underpinnings, id. at 552, 444 A.2d at 1067, the General Assembly provided in Art. 27A, § 6(f), a clear oversight and corrective role for the courts in the indigency determination and appointed-counsel process. Art. 27A, § 6(f), entitled Panel attorneys; courts not deprived of authority to appoint counsel in certain situations, provides: Authority of courts to appoint counsel in certain situations.Nothing in this article shall be construed to deprive any court mentioned in § 4(b)(2) of this article of its authority to appoint an attorney to represent an indigent person where there is a conflict in legal representation in a matter involving multiple defendants and one of the defendants is represented by or through the Office of the Public Defender, or where the Office of the Public Defender declines to provide representation to an indigent person entitled to representation under this article. Art. 27A, § 6(f) (emphasis added). Although Art. 27A, § 6(f), does not specify either the procedure or the standard to be employed by the court, under Thompson, the court must make its own independent determination whether a defendant is indigent and otherwise eligible to have counsel provided, 284 Md. at 129, 394 A.2d at 1198, considering any information offered by the parties which may reasonably bear upon the defendant's ability to afford private counsel ... [and] us[ing] the same statutory standards provided in Art. 27A, § 7, which, as discussed supra, are the statutory indigency factors that the local OPD should have applied. Baldwin, 51 Md.App. at 553-54, 444 A.2d at 1067-68. Of utmost importance to the present case, Art. 27A, § 6(f), contains no language indicating a legislative intent to prohibit the appointment of an attorney from the local OPD by a trial court to represent an individual that the court determines qualifies as indigent, except where an actual and unwaived or unwaivable conflict of interest would arise. [17] Despite the OPD's argument to the contrary, the proposition that a court may not appoint the local OPD against its unjustified wishes finds its legal toehold solely in the crevice of the unpersuasive dicta of Thompson and Baldwin. In order to conclude, as the OPD urges, that Art. 27A, 6(f), prohibits the court, in exercising its responsibility to appoint counsel for an indigent defendant, from appointing an attorney from the local OPD, after the local OPD has refused to provide representation for the defendant, we would have to add the phrase other than the local OPD to the language of Art. 27A, § 6(f), which states that the trial court may appoint an attorney to represent an indigent defendant. Such a judicial insertion into clear legislative language violates sound canons of statutory interpretation and should be avoided. See Lonaconing Trap Club, Inc. v. Dep't of Env't, 410 Md. 326, 339, 978 A.2d 702, 709 (2009) (stating that we neither add nor delete language so as to reflect an intent not evidenced in the plain and unambiguous language of the statute). Although it is clear that the trial court may not appoint the local OPD where the local OPD is prevented from representing an indigent defendant due to an actual and unwaived or unwaivable conflict of interest, [18] the language of Art. 27A, § 6(f), contains no language prohibiting a court from appointing the local OPD where it determines that the local OPD found erroneously that a defendant did not qualify for representation based on the local OPD's failure to consider the appropriate eligibility criteria, consideration of which is mandated by Art. 27A, § 7. To the extent Thompson and Baldwin relied on the statutory scheme in support of the conclusion that the court may not appoint the local OPD to represent an indigent defendant where the local OPD declined representation of that individual erroneously, such reliance was wholly misplaced. As opposed to the contentions put forth by the OPD in its appeal, we hold that, in accordance with the provisions of Art. 27A, § § 6 and 7, and the holdings of Thompson and Baldwin, where the local OPD declines representation to a defendant erroneously, because of the local OPD's failure to consider properly the statutorily-mandated criteria for determining indigency, and where a court finds, upon its subsequent mandatory independent review, that the individual qualifies for representation, the trial court, in carrying out its role as ultimate protector of the Constitutional right to counsel, may appoint an attorney from the local OPD to represent the indigent individual unless an actual and unwaived or unwaivable conflict of interest would result thereby. [19] Though by no means a perfect analogy to the situation here, such a procedure is somewhat analogous to legislatively-sanctioned judicial review of decisions made by an administrative agency. Where an administrative agency acts contrary to law by ignoring its statutory mandate and instead relies solely on a self-initiated regulation that does not comply with its enabling statute, a court has the power to order the agency to comply with its statutory mandate. See Harvey v. Marshall, 389 Md. 243, 302, 884 A.2d 1171, 1207 (2005) (An agency decision, for example, may be deemed `arbitrary or capricious' if it is contrary to or inconsistent with an enabling statute's language or policy goals.). In the present case, where the local OPD disregards the statutorily-mandated criteria for determining indigency provided by Art. 27A, § 7, and relies instead on language contained in a regulation that, as discussed supra, is contrary to its enabling statute, a court may direct the local OPD, upon a proper finding of indigency by the court, to represent the indigent individual for which the local OPD denied representation erroneously. Of course, where the local OPD rejects representation based on its own consideration of the indigency criteria provided by Art. 27A, § 7, its determination is entitled to deference, and the court will interfere only when that decision is arbitrary or capricious. Where the OPD acts, however, contrary to its statutory mandate by wholly disregarding the indigency factors contained in Art. 27A, § 7, it abuses its discretion and its eligibility determination is entitled to no weight. In such a scenario, under the plain language of Art. 27A, § 6(f), the trial court, upon finding properly that the defendant qualifies as indigent under the statutorily-mandated indigency factors appearing in Art. 27A, § 7, may appoint an attorney to represent the defendant, including an attorney from the local OPD. [20] No language in the Public Defender Statute suggests that, when the General Assembly provided the trial courts with the power to appoint an attorney for an indigent defendant where the OPD declines representation means, in fact, only the power to appoint an attorney other than the OPD. No appellate court in this State has held previously that the attorneys in the local OPD are ineligible from appointment by a circuit court following the local OPD's factually and legally erroneous rejection of representation of an indigent defendant. As such, we hold that, under the Article 27A and case law, where the OPD has denied representation for an indigent individual erroneously, based on the OPD's failure to apply the statutorilymandated indigency criteria contained in Art. 27A, § 7, and the circuit court finds that the defendant, in fact, is indigent under that standard, the circuit court may appoint an attorney from the local OPD to represent the defendant, unless an actual and unwaived or unwaivable conflict of interest would result.