Opinion ID: 1712255
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 14

Heading: Adequacy of Funds for Defense

Text: In assignments of error Numbers 6 and 7, defendant maintains the State failed to provide him with sufficient funds for his defense, forcing him to go to trial without necessary investigatory and expert assistance, which prejudiced his ability to present an adequate defense. Part of the State's obligation in providing effective assistance of counsel to indigent defendants is the obligation to provide the indigent defendant's counsel with the basic tools of an adequate defense at no cost to defendant. State v. Touchet, 93-2839 (La.9/6/94), 642 So.2d 1213, 1215 ( citing Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. 226, 227, 92 S.Ct. 431, 433, 30 L.Ed.2d 400 (1971)). Such basic tools have been recognized by this court to include the services of private investigators and expert witnesses. See, e.g., State v. Madison, 345 So.2d 485 (La.1977) (private investigator); State v. Carmouche, 527 So.2d 307 (La. 1988) (expert in fingerprint analysis and serology). Defendant claims the trial court recognized his entitlement to State funding for experts, but failed to insure that such funding was actually available. The record in this case establishes the trial court granted an Ex Parte Motion for Funds for Psychiatric Expert filed by defendant on August 18, 1998. At a pre-trial hearing to address outstanding motions, conducted on February 19, 1999, defense counsel informed the court he had not yet received the funds the trial court had ordered in August, but suggested waiting to address the funding issue until the next hearing. At that hearing, on April 19, 1999, defense counsel informed the court the director of the Louisiana Indigent Defender Board (since re-designated the Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board) had informed defense counsel the Board lacked any funds for the instant case until June 1999. Defense counsel further informed the court he had not yet received funding for an investigator or psychiatric expert, and counsel for the penalty phase had not yet reached a funding agreement with the State. Both the trial court and the district attorney expressed a willingness to help locate available funding. The trial court encouraged the attorneys to meet on their own to discuss the matter, then to submit proposed orders to alleviate any funding problem. The trial court voiced concern that we're going to get a month before the trial and we're pretty much ready to go except we find out there's no money, no experts, they haven't looked at him yet, and there's no attorney on board for the penalty phase. Both parties apparently agreed to the meeting, with the State offering to attempt to secure funds if defense counsel provided an estimate of what was needed. The trial court ordered counsel to contact counsel for the penalty phase and have him prepare an estimate of what it would cost to represent the defendant during the penalty phase and tender it to the district attorney. Finally, the court discussed the possibility of issuing a show cause order to the Louisiana Indigent Defender Board to determine why it had not yet agreed to fund the case. The State subsequently filed a pleading captioned Rule to Show Cause Why the Director of the Louisiana Indigent Defender Board Should Not Be Held in Contempt for Failing to Release Funds for an Expert. A hearing on the rule was conducted on June 21, 1999. [26] After this hearing, defense counsel made only two references to funding troubles. He explained on the day before jury selection began that although defendant had been examined by two doctors, he could not provide the State with a copy of the psychiatric expert report because of many myriad problems paying these people. He also stated during voir dire that [t]he law says in the death penalty phase [ ... ] I'm not required to do anything [ ... ] The reason for this is not that we have things to hide, it's just that there may not be resources. To this court, defendant asserts the funding problems outlined above precluded him from mounting an adequate defense. Specifically, defendant argues that had defense counsel possessed adequate funds, he would have attempted to interview the neurosurgeon who treated Robinson in the emergency room and who noted on his medical report that Robinson had been shot by a disgruntled employee, thereby assuring the admissibility of this excluded item of evidence. In addition, he would have investigated the notation found on the report from Corning Clinical Laboratories indicating Williams had tested positive for marijuana while he worked for Fleet Boats, and would have paid for an expert in fingerprint analysis to test fingerprints on the pack of cigarettes found at the scene of the shooting. Finally, defendant claims that properly funded defense counsel would have secured the assistance of a handwriting expert to determine whether Williams, in fact, authored the letter exonerating defendant from involvement in the murder and robbery. However, defendant presents nothing to support his claim that it was the lack of funding, rather than trial strategy, that led to counsel's failure to take the outlined actions. As revealed above, both the prosecutor and the trial court made sincere efforts to assist defense counsel in obtaining the necessary funding. After the hearing on the Rule to Show Cause directed to the Louisiana Indigent Defender Board, defense counsel made only two brief references to funding troubles, neither of which related to the steps defendant now contends his trial counsel should have taken. Under these circumstances, defendant cannot show the trial court's rulings in any way denied him funding for the counsel to which he is constitutionally entitled. Moreover, even assuming it was a lack of funding that led to counsel's failure to take the steps defendant insists he should have taken, defendant fails to demonstrate that the denial of the expert assistance substantially prejudiced him at trial. See, State v. Prestridge, 399 So.2d 564, 581 (La.1981) (When an indigent defendant has been denied funds to obtain expert assistance, the issue on review becomes whether the denial of funds substantially prejudiced the defendant at trial.). Defendant acknowledges the neurosurgeon who treated Robinson died before defendant was arrested. Thus, any efforts by an investigator to interview the doctor would have been fruitless. As to the report from Corning Clinical Laboratories allegedly reflecting Williams' positive test for marijuana, counsel had ample opportunity during trial to elicit testimony from either Jackson or Wilson that Williams was fired from Fleet Boats because of a positive drug test, but failed to take advantage of that opportunity. Finally, no request was made for funds for the appointment of a fingerprint or handwriting expert; therefore, defendant could not have been prejudiced by the failure of the State to provide funds for these experts. Defendant's assignments of error Numbers 6 and 7 lack merit.