Opinion ID: 1088668
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Whether the OCCCRC are de Facto Public Defenders

Text: In deciding whether the OCCCRC are public defenders for purposes of the constitution, the Court must essentially define their legal character. FACDL relies almost exclusively on the Legislature's statements in sections 29.001(1), Florida Statutes (2007), and 29.008(1), Florida Statutes (2007), which define the OCCCRC as public defenders. In section 29.001(1), the Legislature defines the offices of the public defenders to include the enumerated elements of the . . . 20 public defenders' offices and five offices of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel. Similarly, in section 29.008(1), the Legislature states that the term `public defenders' offices' includes the offices of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel. However, these two clauses are the only provisions in the Act defining the OCCCRC as public defenders, are contained in chapter 29 (Court System Funding), and are used solely for purposes of implementing the constitutional guidelines concerning funding. In the context of our constitutional inquiry in this case, we agree with the Governor that the legal character of the OCCCRC should depend on what they do, not on how they might be characterized for purposes of funding. Accordingly, we reject the assertion that the OCCCRC are public defenders simply because they are defined as such for the sole purposes of funding. Rather, we focus on the duties of the OCCCRC as compared to those of the public defender. Initially, as just discussed, we acknowledge that there is no difference between the types of criminal cases that are handled by the public defender and the OCCCRC. Thus, there is some overlap between the OCCCRC and the public defender when it comes to the types of criminal cases each entity handles. What is critical to our decision is that the OCCCRC are appointed in criminal cases only where the public defender must withdraw due to a conflict of interest. See § 27.511(5), Fla. Stat. Therefore, the OCCCRC do not compete or otherwise act concurrently with the public defender  it is only when the public defender steps aside that a regional counsel steps in. [8] In fact, section 27.51 was not revised by chapter 2007-62. This is significant because, despite the creation of the OCCCRC, the public defender maintains primary responsibility for representation in all criminal cases, as it has since the public defender system was created in 1963. Moreover, by creating the OCCCRC, the Legislature did not transfer all of the typical responsibilities of the public defender and a bulk of its funding to an appointed office, leaving the elected public defender with only nominal duties. To the contrary, the OCCCRC are an essential safety net that are only utilized when the public defender has a conflict. Because the OCCCRC do not perform the duties of the public defender, we distinguish this case from our decision in Bush v. Holmes, 919 So.2d 392 (Fla.2006). In Holmes, this Court reviewed the constitutionality of a statute that entitled children to use vouchers, which transferred money from the public school system to a scholarship account that was used to pay for attendance at a private school. Id. at 401-02. The Court ruled that the statute was unconstitutional because it violated article IX, section 1(a), Florida Constitution, which stated that [a]dequate provision shall be made by law for a uniform, efficient, safe, secure, and high quality system of free public schools. The Court reasoned that because the constitutional provision expressly provides for the manner of doing a thing, such as a uniform system of public education, it impliedly forbids its being done in a substantially different manner. Holmes, 919 So.2d at 407 (quoting Weinberger v. Bd. of Pub. Instruction, 93 Fla. 470, 112 So. 253, 256 (1927)) (applying the principle of expressio unius est exclusio alterius). Therefore, because the constitution provided for the manner in which the State was to provide a free education to its children, namely, a uniform system, the statute was unconstitutional in that it authorized the diversion of funds from the uniform public system to a competing private system. Id. at 407-09. In contrast, the constitutional provision at issue here provides only for the qualifications of public defenders and expressly reserves to the Legislature the right to determine the manner of how those offices are to function. See art. V, § 18, Fla. Const. If the provision explicitly detailed the duties of the public defender or how the system for dealing with conflicts should be established, the Legislature would certainly be violating the constitution by creating a conflict system that supplanted those principles. However, that is not the case here. Furthermore, the fact that the OCCCRC neither compete with nor displace the public defenders in any of their statutorily assigned duties distinguishes this case from Holmes. Actually, the OCCCRC system is more comparable to the program that the Court found unaffected by its decision in Holmes, namely, a statute that authorized special needs children to attend private schools at public expense if the public system was unable to meet their needs. 919 So.2d at 411-12. Similarly, it is only when a public defender has a conflict and is unable to meet the representation needs of an indigent defendant that a regional counsel is appointed in its place. Additionally, we consider the lack of any duplication in any statutory responsibilities dispositive in this case because the OCCCRC no more supplant the public defender than did the system of private registry counsel, which was in place prior to the Act and is currently responsible for representation when one of the OCCCRC has a conflict. Indeed, there appears to be no significant legal difference between the current OCCCRC system and the prior system of appointing private counsel in conflict cases. Other than the fact that the OCCCRC are government offices and the private registry counsel are independent contractors, their responsibilities are identical  to represent indigent defendants in criminal cases when the public defender has a conflict.