Opinion ID: 1829968
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 49

Heading: Allegedly Inadequate Statutory Attorney Fees

Text: Hansen argues next that his lawyers were precluded from providing him constitutionally required effective assistance by reason of the minimal fees said to be authorized for court-appointed counsel in cases such as this. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-15-17 (Supp. 1990) limits the compensation an attorney is entitled to when representing an indigent client to $1,000 per case, except in capital cases where two attorneys may be appointed, in which case the compensation shall not exceed $2,000. In Wilson v. State, 574 So.2d 1338 (Miss. 1990), we held this statute to be constitutional in the face of a like challenge. The statute provides, in addition to the fee enumerated above, the court shall allow reimbursement of actual expenses. Wilson, 574 So.2d at 1339. This Court recognized a rebuttable presumption that the appointed counsel's actual overhead within this statute is $25.00, and went on to say,  [h]owever, the trial court is bound by this only in the absence of actual proof to the contrary  proof offered by the lawyer that it is more or by the State that it is less.  Wilson, 574 So.2d at 1340-41 (emphasis original). The Court held that ineffective assistance claims resulting from the compensation allowed should be decided by reference to Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 104 S.Ct. 2052, 80 L.Ed.2d 674 (1984) and progeny, the familiar standards of which attach no import to the cause of counsel's ineffective assistance. Wilson, 574 So.2d at 1341. In that case and another case decided the same day, Pruett v. State, 574 So.2d 1342 (Miss. 1990), the Court remanded for a hearing on the expenses under the statute. See also, Mease v. State, 583 So.2d 1283 (Miss. 1991). In the case at hand, we find nothing suggesting the statutory limits on court-appointed counsel fees and expenses induced ineffective assistance of counsel. To the contrary, both below and here counsel have pulled out all the stops, well exceeding the Strickland standards. We find no error here.