Opinion ID: 1918099
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Statutory Text and its Legislative Purpose.

Text: The majority's holding runs contrary to the mandates under the Public Defender Statute. In enacting this statute, the Legislature clearly announced its purpose and, subject to the right of local governments to opt out and provide their own public defender system, [21] to whom it was entrusting implementation: It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Maryland to provide for the realization of the constitutional guarantees of counsel in the representation of indigents, including related necessary services and facilities, in criminal and juvenile proceedings within the State, and to assure effective assistance and continuity of counsel to indigent accused taken into custody and indigent defendants in criminal and juvenile proceedings before the courts of the State of Maryland, and to authorize the Office of Public Defender to administer and assure enforcement of the provisions of this article in accordance with its terms. § 1. It accordingly established the OPD and designated the Public Defender as its head. § 3. To the Public Defender was committed the primary duty ... to provide legal representation for any indigent defendant eligible for services, to be provided in certain enumerated proceedings, § 4(a) and (b), and the general responsibility for the operation of the Office of the Public Defender and all district offices, § 5(1), including such powers and duties, § 5(2)-(8), as will effectuate the purposes of the statute and promote the efficient conduct of the work and general administration of the office, its professional staff and other employees. § 5(3). The Office of the Public Defender was charged with determining the eligibility for services of any person seeking legal representation, which it was required to do on the basis of that person's need, as defined in § 7(a). To make that determination, it was empowered to make such investigation of the financial status of each defendant at such time or times as the circumstances shall warrant, and in connection therewith the office shall have the authority to require a defendant to execute and deliver such written requests or authorizations as may be necessary under applicable law to provide the office with access to records of public or private sources, otherwise confidential, as may be needed to evaluate eligibility. § 7(b). In addition, the Legislature provided a comprehensive scheme whereby the Public Defender could obtain reimbursement from defendants later found able to pay for part or all of his services. Baldwin, 51 Md.App. at 551, 444 A.2d at 1066-67, citing and quoting § 7(c)-(f). The Legislature also acknowledged that certain courts had a role to play, in certain circumstances, in the appointment of counsel for indigent defendants. See § 6(f), n. 3 supra. That acknowledgment was made after it had extensively treated panel attorneys, their appointment, § 6(b), duties, § 6(c), compensation, § 6(d), and entitlement to staffing. § 6(e). The intent of the Legislature in enacting this statutory scheme can, must, be discerned by reading the various provisions together, giving effect to each, see Gordon Family P'ship v. Gar on Jer, 348 Md. 129, 138, 702 A.2d 753, 757 (1997); Outmezguine v. State, 335 Md. 20, 41, 641 A.2d 870, 880-81 (1994); Popham v. State Farm Mut. Ins., Co., 333 Md. 136, 148, 634 A.2d 28, 34 (1993); Gov't Employees Ins. Co. v. Ins. Comm'r, 332 Md. 124, 131-132, 630 A.2d 713, 717 (1993); Cicoria v. State, 332 Md. 21, 33, 629 A.2d 742 (1993), and constru[ing them] according to their ordinary and natural import. Foley v. K. Hovnanian at Kent Island, LLC, 410 Md. 128, 152, 978 A.2d 222, 236, (2009) (quoting Lanzaron v. Anne Arundel County, 402 Md. 140, 149, 935 A.2d 689, 694 (2007)) (quoting Rose v. Fox Pool Corp., 335 Md. 351, 359, 643 A.2d 906, 909 (1994)). In pursuing that intent, this Court will: neither add words to, nor delete words from, a clear and unambiguous statute to give it a meaning not reflected by the words the Legislature chose to use, and we do not engage in forced or subtle interpretation in an attempt to extend or limit the statute's meaning. In re Gloria H., 410 Md. 562, 581, 979 A.2d 710, 720 (2009); see also Chow v. State, 393 Md. 431, 443, 903 A.2d 388, 395 (2006). Instead, each word will be given effect, so that no word, clause, sentences or phrase is rendered superfluous or nugatory. Foley, 410 Md. at 152, 978 A.2d at 237. And a statute is to be given a reasonable interpretation, not one that is illogical or incompatible with common sense. In re Gloria H., 410 Md. at 581, 979 A.2d at 721. Applying these principles to the construction of the Public Defender Statute, it is clear that the OPD, not the designated courts, has been entrusted by the Legislature with both the initial, as the majority emphasizes, OPD v. State, 413 Md. at 431-34, 992 A.2d at 67-69, and the primary, as § 4(a) provides, responsibility for insuring that indigent defendants receive the legal representation to which they constitutionally are entitled. Indeed, § 4(a) says as much: It shall be the primary duty of the Public Defender to provide legal representation for any indigent defendant eligible for services under this article. To be sure, there is a role reserved for the trial courts. That role was prescribed in § 6(f). It is telling that the only reference to a court role in the appointment of counsel process simply provides Nothing in this article shall be construed to deprive [a circuit court] of its authority to appoint an attorney to represent an indigent person ... where the Office of the Public Defender declines to provide representation to an indigent person entitled to representation under this article, and does not characterize the court as having corrective responsibilities for the OPD or prescribe a review regime for its eligibility determinations. This is perfectly consistent with the interpretation given it by both Thompson and Baldwin: that the appointment authority of the courts was simply supplemental and a failsafe; as the court in Baldwin put it, the role reserved to the courts to appoint counsel is [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. 51 Md.App. at 552, 444 A.2d at 1067, explicating § 6(f). All of the other provisions that address eligibility or appointment refer to the OPD and prescribe the procedures and standards that the OPD must apply and/or the authority that the OPD has. I repeat, there simply is no provision, expressly or otherwise, calling for, never mind requiring, court review of the appointment or eligibility determinations made by the OPD.