Opinion ID: 2972914
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Failure to Provide Adequate Funds

Text: Jamieson next contends that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel because of insufficient funding for his defense. An indigent defendant may request monies for investigative, expert, or other services under the Criminal Justice Act, 18 U.S.C. § 3006A. We have directed the district courts to authorize services under § 3006A “upon a demonstration that (1) such services are necessary to mount a plausible defense, and (2) without such authorization, the defendant’s case Nos. 02-3403; 03-4578 United States v. Jamieson Page 9 would be prejudiced.” United States v. Gilmore, 282 F.3d 398, 406 (6th Cir. 2002). We review a district court’s denial of authorization for abuse of discretion. Id. at 406. Shortly after Jamieson was indicted, the trial court appointed two qualified defense attorneys to represent him. Jamieson alleges, however, that his attorneys did not receive the funds necessary to investigate the case against him and prepare an adequate defense. According to the district court, when Jamieson submitted his initial motion for funds, he requested $500,000 “without any budget or breakdown as to the utilization of those funds.” The district court denied the motion because the amount was “beyond the scope of reasonably incurred expenses.” At the suggestion of the district court, Jamieson later submitted a revised proposal, including a budget and an explanation of the services requested, asking for authorization of a more reasonable sum. Although the revised proposal was not submitted in a timely manner, the district court nevertheless authorized $100,000 for Jamieson’s use. Through the use of these funds, Jamieson received the services of at least five experts, three of whom he selected to testify at trial. The district court noted that Jamieson also had the full-time assistance of a retired FBI special agent both before and during trial. Under these circumstances, we fail to find that the defendant has demonstrated prejudice arising from the district court’s decision to limit funds for experts under § 3006A. Nor do we find an abuse of discretion in the district court’s denial of funds to purchase the forensic software necessary to access all documents contained on 64 disks produced by the government. Initially, the government gave Jamieson a set of 42 disks containing all the files lifted from Liberte Capital’s computers. This first set of disks was readable without any special software. Later, the government developed a second set of 64 disks that included the materials from the original disks, plus deleted files and file fragments on the Liberte Capital computers. The only way to obtain access to the latter material was to use a special forensic program that, once used, rendered the disks unreadable without the use of extraordinarily expensive software. The district court worked with both counsel to find additional ways for Jamieson to obtain complete access to these files, but no solution was reached. The government cooperated with the court’s efforts but, more importantly, assured the court that it had not relied on the deleted materials to build a case against the defendant, had not referred to them in drafting documentary exhibits, and would not use them in any way at trial. Additionally, Jamieson never demonstrated that the information on the disks was “necessary to a plausible defense” or that the inability to decode the disks would prejudice the case. Under these circumstances, we cannot conclude that the district court abused its discretion in denying Jamieson the funds to purchase the computer programs necessary to decode the disks.