Opinion ID: 1309573
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Fees Limitation for Expert Services.

Text: Woomer argues that the statutory limitation on expenditures for skilled services for an indigent defendant violated his Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process and equal protection. Code § 16-3-26 (c) as amended (Supp. 1980) of the death penalty statute provides in part the following: (C) Upon a finding in ex parte proceedings that investigative, expert or other services are reasonably necessary for the representation of the defendant whether in connection with issues relating to guilt or sentence, the court shall authorize the defendant's attorneys to obain such services on behalf of the defendant and shall order the payment, from state funds appropriated for the defense of indigents, of fees and expenses not to exceed two thousand dollars as the court shall deem appropriate... It is contended by Woomer that this imitation denied him a complete psychological evaluation, thereby hindering preparation of an adequate defense. We disagree. The trial judge denied Woomer's request to exceed the limit only after finding that a need for excess funds had not been shown. We agree with his findings. The record discloses that Woomer received three (3) psychiatric examinations covering a spectrum of the most advanced testing known. Each expert testified that Woomer knew right from wrong on February 22, 1979. His own psychiatrist, financed by state funds, testified as follows: It's my opinion that both legally and morally, this patient knows the difference between right and wrong. It's simply that he doesn't care... He does what he wants to do, when he wants to do it; and if it's an illegal act and there are witnesses, then he simply kills them. The ability to adequately prepare one's defense may well entail access to certain necessary expert services; it does not require the State to blindly fund an expensive fishing expedition. There simply is no showing that failure to relax the statutory limitation denied Woomer a far trial.