Opinion ID: 2317113
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Necessary Showing

Text: We turn now to another issue left substantially unresolved in Ake the level and specificity of the threshold showing a defendant must make to establish entitlement to expert assistance. Most courts that have considered the question of whether an indigent is entitled to public funded appointment of a non-psychiatric expert have applied the rationale expressed by the Supreme Court in Ake. Reading Ake and Caldwell together require that the State provide indigent defendants with the basic tools of an adequate defense, Ake, 470 U.S. at 77, 105 S.Ct. at 1093, and, when the required showing is made, require the appointment of non-psychiatric experts. Due process and equal protection require the State to provide non-psychiatric experts to indigent defendants when the defendant makes a particularized showing of the need for assistance of such experts. See, e.g., Little v. Armontrout, 835 F.2d 1240, 1245 (8th Cir. 1987); Moore v. Kemp, 809 F.2d 702, 712 (11th Cir.1987); Kennedy v. State, 578 N.E.2d 633, 640 (Ind.1991); State v. Coker, 412 N.W.2d 589, 593 (Iowa 1987); Harrison v. State, 635 So.2d 894, 902 (Miss. 1994); Polk v. State, 612 So.2d 381, 393 (Miss.1992); State v. Mills, 332 N.C. 392, 420 S.E.2d 114, 117 (1992); State v. Edwards, 868 S.W.2d 682, 697 (Tenn.Crim. App.1993); Rey v. State, 897 S.W.2d 333, 343 (Tex.Crim.App.1995). It is clear that Ake does not mandate handing over the State's checkbook to indigent defendants and their attorneys. The Supreme Court reiterated that it has never held that a State must purchase for the indigent defendant all the assistance that his wealthier counterpart might buy, see Ross v. Moffitt, 417 U.S. 600, 94 S.Ct. 2437, 41 L.Ed.2d 341 (1974) but had rather focused on identifying the `basic tools of an adequate defense or appeal.' Ake at 77, 105 S.Ct. at 1093 (quoting Britt v. North Carolina, 404 U.S. 226, 227, 92 S.Ct. 431, 433, 30 L.Ed.2d 400 (1971)). Significantly, the Court's holding in Ake was predicated on the defendant having demonstrat[ed] to the trial judge that his sanity at the time of the offense is to be a significant factor at trial. Ake at 83, 105 S.Ct. at 1096. Thus, in Caldwell, the Court terminated its inquiry when it found that petitioner offered little more than undeveloped assertions that the requested assistance would be beneficial. Caldwell, 472 U.S. at 323 n. 1, 105 S.Ct. at 2637 n. 1. The test that seems to have been adopted by the majority of courts considering the issue is the one enunciated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in Moore v. Kemp, 809 F.2d 702 (11th Cir.1987). The court concluded that Ake and Caldwell require that a defendant must show the trial court that there exists a reasonable probability both that an expert would be of assistance to the defense and that denial of expert assistance would result in a fundamentally unfair trial. Id. at 712. The court explained as follows: [A] defendant must show the trial court that there exists a reasonable probability both that an expert would be of assistance to the defense and that denial of expert assistance would result in a fundamentally unfair trial. Thus, if a defendant wants an expert to assist his attorney in confronting the prosecution's proofby preparing counsel to cross-examine the prosecution's experts or by providing rebuttal testimonyhe must inform the court of the nature of the prosecution's case and how the requested expert would be useful. At the very least, he must inform the trial court about the nature of the crime and the evidence linking him to the crime. By the same token, if the defendant desires the appointment of an expert so that he can present an affirmative defense, such as insanity, he must demonstrate a substantial basis for the defense, as the defendant did in Ake. In each instance, the defendant's showing must also include a specific description of the expert or experts desired; without this basic information, the court would be unable to grant the defendant's motion, because the court would not know what type of expert was needed. In addition, the defendant should inform the court why the particular expert is necessary. We recognize that defense counsel may be unfamiliar with the specific scientific theories implicated in a case and therefore cannot be expected to provide the court with a detailed analysis of the assistance an appointed expert might provide. We do believe, however, that defense counsel is obligated to inform himself about the specific scientific area in question and to provide the court with as much information as possible concerning the usefulness of the requested expert to the defense's case. Id. at 712. We agree with this formulation, and join those courts that have adopted it. See, e.g., Page v. Lee, 337 F.3d 411, 416 (4th Cir.2003); Williams v. Collins, 989 F.2d 841, 845-46 (5th Cir.1993); Kordenbrock v. Scroggy, 919 F.2d 1091, 1104 (6th Cir. 1990); Little v. Armontrout, 835 F.2d 1240, 1244 (8th Cir.1987); Tyson v. Keane, 991 F.Supp. 314, 324-25 (S.D.N.Y.1998); U.S. v. Ndanyi, 45 M.J. 315, 319 (C.A.A.F. 1996); State v. Apelt, 176 Ariz. 349, 861 P.2d 634, 651 (1993); Crawford v. State, 257 Ga. 681, 362 S.E.2d 201, 206 (1987); Cade v. State, 658 So.2d 550, 553 (Fla.Dist. Ct.App.1995); State v. Touchet, 642 So.2d 1213, 1216 (La.1994); Taylor v. State, 939 S.W.2d 148, 152 n. 3 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). The manner in which the defendant may make this required showing will depend necessarily upon the purpose for which the defendant seeks the expert assistance. For example, if the defendant seeks an expert in order to confront the prosecution's proof, the defendant must inform the court how the expert would be useful in light of the prosecution's case. Moore v. Kemp, 809 F.2d at 712. This is not to say that a defendant must predict to a certainty every detail of the prosecution's theory, or display a highly sophisticated understanding of the contribution the requested expert would make to the defense. Defense counsel does have, however, an obligation to become informed of the specific scientific area in question in order to explain the necessity of any requested expert to the court. Id. at 712. The analysis of whether a defendant has fulfilled this obligation will be a dynamic one, dependent on the amount of discovery received, the extent to which a likely prosecution theory is obvious, the complexity of the scientific or technical issues, and other case-specific factors. For example, the Moore v. Kemp court opined: In a jurisdiction ... which accords the defendant substantial discovery rights, the defendant should have no difficulty in demonstrating the theory of the government's case and outlining the evidence the prosecutor will probably present at trial. The difficulty of the defendant's task will vary depending on the scope of the jurisdiction's discovery rules. In a jurisdiction still employing `trial by ambush,' the defendant might have to ask the court to make the prosecutor disclose the theory of his case and the results of any tests that may have been performed by government experts or at the government's request. Moore v. Kemp, 809 F.2d at 712 n. 10 (citations omitted).