Opinion ID: 1993425
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Public Defender Act's Language

Text: A review of the Public Defender Act demonstrates that the authority to provide State funds to indigent defendants represented by private counsel exists in the Act itself. First, section 1 of the Act states that the State's policy is to provide for the realization of the constitutional guarantees of counsel in criminal cases for indigent defendants by means of the system and program established and authorized by this act   . N.J.S.A. 2A:158A-1. Thus, the Legislature chose to provide counsel for all indigent defendants through the centralized OPD system. Additionally, section 2 of the Act specifically defines an indigent defendant as one who is formally charged with the commission of an indictable offense and who does not have the present financial ability to secure competent legal representation    and to provide all other necessary expenses of representation. (emphasis added). Moreover, section 14 states that [e]ligibility for the services of the Office of the Public Defender shall be determined on the basis of the need of the defendant. Need shall be measured according to a. [t]he financial ability of the defendant to engage and compensate competent private counsel; [and]         h. [t]he ability of the defendant to provide all other necessary expenses of representation. (emphasis added). However, the OPD points to section 5 of the Act as support for its position. That section provides that [i]t shall be the duty of the Public Defender to provide for legal representation of any indigent defendant who is formally charged with the commission of an indictable offense. All necessary services and facilities of representation (including investigation and other preparation) shall be provided in every case. The factors of need and real value to a defense may be weighed against the financial constraints of the Public Defender's office in determining what are the necessary services and facilities of representation. [ N.J.S.A. 2A:158A-5 (emphasis added).] The Legislature added the sentence following the underlined portion in 1987. The OPD reads section 5 to mean that only if the OPD is representing the defendant must it provide other necessary expenses of representation. We find that that narrow reading does not conform with the language or legislative history of the Act. New Jersey's policy is to provide counsel for all indigent defendants, not just for indigents represented by the OPD. The Act's language states that eligibility for OPD services includes not just a defendant's inability to hire private counsel but also a defendant's ability to pay for all other necessary expenses of representation. Nowhere in the Act is there a requirement that a defendant obtain legal services from the OPD before he or she may obtain ancillary services from it. The Legislature intended that a defendant's right to obtain necessary ancillary services for his or her defense depends on the defendant's indigence and not on whether the defendant is represented by outside counsel.