Opinion ID: 1561133
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Funds for Experts

Text: Foley argues that the trial court improperly denied him funding for a ballistics expert and a social worker because he needed these two experts for the evidentiary hearing to prove the prejudice in his original jury verdict. Foley has no constitutional right to expert assistance in a collateral attack proceeding. Murray v. Giarratano, 492 U.S. 1, 109 S.Ct. 2765, 106 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989). The requirement to provide funds to indigent defendants for necessary experts as stated in Binion v. Commonwealth, Ky., 891 S.W.2d 383 (1995) and Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. 1087, 84 L.Ed.2d 53 (1985), has not been extended to post-conviction matters. The standard for determining whether a criminal defendant is entitled to funds for expert assistance is whether such assistance is reasonably necessary. Hicks v. Commonwealth, Ky., 670 S.W.2d 837 (1984). Such a decision is within the sound discretion of the trial judge, and the same standard is to be applied in RCr 11.42 proceedings. McQueen, supra . Foley contends that a ballistics expert was necessary to prove that he did not kill Harry Vaughn and only shot at Rodney Vaughn in self-defense. He does not have an affidavit from any ballistics expert stating this proposition. There is no showing that the one expert he contacted could change the Foley verdict. He also claims that he needs a social worker to explain his background and character to the jury. Again, he does not indicate what a social worker would testify to or how this testimony would change the reliability of the verdict. Foley does not demonstrate that either of these proposed expert witnesses was reasonably necessary pursuant to Hicks, supra . It was not error for the trial judge to deny motions for funds for experts because those experts were not reasonably necessary.