Opinion ID: 1766494
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 11

Heading: Facts and Procedural History in Writ Against Judge Oxenhandler

Text: Jacqueline Pickrell, with counsel from the public defender's office, pleaded guilty in April 2002 to the felony of passing bad checks. A month later, she received a suspended imposition of sentence and was placed on five years of probation. A year later, Pickrell was found in violation of her probation and was placed on probation under a suspended execution of a three-year sentence. [30] In April 2008, Pickrell's probation was suspended and she was taken into custody; she applied for the services of the public defender's office for District 13, Boone County. The public defender's office filed notice with the court that it was unavailable to represent Pickrell because it had excluded services for alleged probation violations while it was on limited availability status under 18 CSR 10-4.010. The commission maintains caseload standards that identify the maximum caseload each district office can be assigned, pursuant to 18 CSR 10-4.010. In August 2008, prior to Pickrell's application for a public defender, State Public Defender Director Robinson determined that the District 13 public defender's office exceeded the maximum caseload standard. As a result, Robinson certified the District 13 public defender's office to be of limited availability status pursuant to 18 CSR 10-4.010. The District 13 public defender, Kevin O'Brien, then notified the Boone County circuit court that the public defender's office would not accept new probation revocation cases in which a suspended execution of sentence had been imposed until the District 13 office was at full availability. Despite the fact that Pickrell was on probation under a suspended execution of sentence, respondent Judge Oxenhandler appointed the public defender's office to represent her in November 2008. Subsequently, the commission, Director Robinson and O'Brien [31] filed a petition for a writ of prohibition in the court of appeals seeking to prohibit Judge Oxenhandler from appointing the public defender's office to represent Pickrell. That court issued a preliminary writ, and this Court granted transfer after opinion by the court of appeals.