Opinion ID: 1611086
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: State v. Citizen

Text: Finally, the case of State v. Citizen c/w State v. Tonguis, XXXX-XXXX (La.4/1/05), 898 So.2d 325 ( Citizen ) is important in this review. Although Citizen was handed down a few months after Reeves' retrial, these consolidated cases involved the separate prosecutions of two indigent capital defendants arising out of Calcasieu Parish, the same parish as Reeves' prosecution, and present an informative analysis of the mechanism for funding indigent defense prevailing at that time within that parish. In Citizen, a parish-approved ad valorem tax constituted the largest component of the parish Criminal Court Fund, which maintained the court system and the District Attorney's Office, but not the local public defender's office. This fund operated at a surplus. By contrast, the local public defender's office was funded through court fees and an allocation of state funds and operated at a deficit. Expressing frustration at the continued lack of funding in criminal cases, and faced with appointed defense counsel's Motion to Determine Source of Funds to Provide Competent Defense, the district court in Citizen declared unconstitutional two statutes that had recently been amended to prevent the use of local parish funds to pay for appointed defense counsel. The district court further ordered the parish police jury to provide funds for appointed counsel for the two indigent capital defendants. [14] On appeal, this court reversed, upholding the constitutionality of the statutes. The court held that the legislature, through statute, places the burden of paying indigent defense costs on the state. The fact that the legislature failed to adequately fund indigent defense programs, and had, in the amendments to the statutes at issue, eliminated an alternative source of funding from the parishes, did not diminish any of the constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms of these defendants or of their attorneys. Citizen, XXXX-XXXX p. 13, 898 So.2d at 335. Further, the court held the district court erred in ordering the police jury to place funds into the court registry for court-appointed attorneys or other case-related expenses when the legislature had made unmistakably clear that the state, and not the parish, was responsible for indigent funding. Id., XXXX-XXXX p. 14, 898 So.2d at 336. In addition to these holdings, the court reiterated, from its previous pronouncements in Peart and Wigley, that budget exigencies could not serve as an excuse for the oppressive or abusive extension of attorneys' professional responsibilities. Citizen, XXXX-XXXX p. 15, 898 So.2d at 336. Moreover, in order to ensure that indigent defendants are provided with their constitutional and statutory rights to counsel and to expert assistance, this court had, in the past, exercised its constitutional and inherent power and supervisory jurisdiction to impose corrective measures. In fact, the court warned previously in Peart that more intrusive measures would be contemplated if the legislature failed to act. Id. Although the court in Citizen noted that the legislature had taken positive steps since Peart to remedy the critical state of indigent criminal defense in Louisiana, there had been, as of that time, no resolution or legislative remedy for the underfunding and overworked conditions noted in previous cases. Id., XXXX-XXXX p. 14-15, 898 So.2d at 336. Finding that further corrective measures were needed to address the immediate problems of the instant defendants, the court in Citizen altered one of the rules set forth in Wigley. Whereas in Wigley the court maintained that a district court should not appoint private counsel for an indigent defendant until a funding source was identified for the reimbursement of, at a minimum, the appointed counsel's expenses and overhead, the court in Citizen ordered that counsel be appointed for an indigent defendant from the time of the indigent defendant's first appearance in court, even if the judge cannot then determine that funds sufficient to cover the anticipated expenses and overhead are likely to be available to reimburse counsel. Citizen, XXXX-XXXX p. 16, 898 So.2d at 338. The court instructed that counsel appointed before a funding source was identified could subsequently file a motion to determine funding. Thereafter, if the district court determined that adequate funding was not available, this court authorized the defendant to file a motion to halt the prosecution until adequate funding became available. Id. Citizen authorized district judges, in their discretion, to prohibit the state from proceeding with a prosecution until he or she would be able to determine that appropriate funding was likely to be available thereafter. Id., XXXX-XXXX p. 16, 898 So.2d at 339. This authority is no longer a matter of jurisprudential rule announced in Citizen. In its comprehensive revision of the statutory provisions establishing and regulating a state-wide indigent defender board, the legislature, in the Louisiana Public Defender Act of 2007, La. Acts 2007, § 307, explicitly recognized that Citizen authorized trial judges to halt prosecutions in capital cases, upon motion of defense counsel, until adequate funding is provided to ensure an adequate defense, and it is the express intention of the legislature to ensure adequate resources, consistent with the Citizen opinion, which allow prosecutions in such cases to continue to conclusion resulting in verdicts that are fair, correct, swift, and final. La. R.S. 15:142(D). As previously noted, our decision in Citizen was rendered several months after the retrial of the instant case.