Court Opinion

ID: 9727775
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:50:15.105542+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:21:38.192442
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Justice.
James R. Colson appeals from a judgment of the Superior Court, Cumberland County, denying his petition for post-conviction review, 15 M.R.S.A. §§ 2121-2132 *586(Supp.1984). Colson alleges that procedural due process under the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 6-A of the Maine Constitution requires that an indigent defendant have a right to court-appointed counsel in a hearing necessitated by his failure to pay a fine previously imposed. We affirm the Superior Court’s denial of Colson’s petition.
I.
On or about December 28, 1981 Colson was convicted in District Court of operating a motor vehicle after suspension of his license, 29 M.R.S.A. § 2184 (1978 & Supp. 1984). He was fined $350 and ordered to pay that amount in monthly installments on dates that Colson requested. The last payment of $50 was due on May 3, 1982. On February 8, 1983 a hearing pursuant to 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1304 (1983)1 was conducted. At the conclusion of the proceedings, Colson was committed to the county jail until the fine was paid with credit at $10 per day for the time served. The record discloses neither a request for, nor a waiver of, court-appointed counsel at the section 1304 hearing.
On or about February 9, 1983 Colson appealed to the Superior Court from the District Court’s judgment and order of commitment. The commitment was stayed and Colson was admitted to bail by the District Court. The Superior Court affirmed the judgment on August 16, 1983, and notice of appeal to this Court was filed on September 1, 1983. In State v. Colson, 472 A.2d 1381 (Me.1984), however, we dismissed Colson’s appeal, ruling that an “order of commitment for nonpayment of a fine pursuant to 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1304 is reviewable only on post-conviction review, and not on direct appeal from that order.” Id. at 1382.
At the post-conviction proceeding and at oral argument before us, Colson, through his appointed counsel, expressly waived two issues: (1) whether the District Court correctly inquired of his ability to pay the fine when originally imposed as mandated by 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1302 (1983);2 and (2) whether his default in payment of the fine was “excusable” pursuant to the language of section 1304. Colson thus seeks to isolate the constitutional issue raised by his petition, and thereby to present the narrow question whether the absence of court-appointed counsel in a section 1304 proceeding constitutes a per se violation of his constitutional rights. We decline to adopt such an absolute rule in this case.
II.
Colson urges that Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25, 37, 92 S.Ct. 2006, 2012, 32 *587L.Ed.2d 530 (1972), which held that “absent a knowing and intelligent waiver, no person may be imprisoned for any offense, whether classified as petty, misdemeanor, or felony, unless he was represented by counsel at his trial,” dictates that he must be allowed the appointment of counsel before he can be committed to jail for his failure to pay a fine. He acknowledges that Arger-singer was decided in the context of the trial stage of a criminal prosecution,3 but he argues that In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 41, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 1451, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967), removes any distinction between “civil” and “criminal” cases in assessing right to counsel issues.4 In re Gault, however, involved a juvenile court proceeding where the issue was whether the child would be found to be “delinquent” and subjected to the loss of his liberty by being committed to a state institution and is therefore inap-posite to the case at bar.5
III.
Colson next urges that the decision in Lassiter v. Department of Social Services, 452 U.S. 18, 101 S.Ct. 2153, 68 L.Ed.2d 640 (1981), mandates the necessity for appointment of counsel for indigents in contempt-like proceedings held pursuant to section 1304. In Lassiter the Supreme Court declined to order the appointment of counsel in every parental rights termination proceeding, although the Court did discuss a presumption that an indigent litigant has a right to appointed counsel only when, if he loses, he may be deprived of his physical freedom. Id. at 27, 101 S.Ct. at 2159. Col-son reasons that Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973), which held that there is no absolute right to appointed counsel in probation revocation proceedings, in part because of a probationer’s already diminished interest in personal liberty, does not compel a contrary result. He contends that because he was not sentenced to any term of imprisonment or subjected to conditions of probation, but only ordered to pay a $350 fine, he had an “undiminished” interest in his personal freedom at the time of his section 1304 hearing, and therefore a right to appointed counsel.
Without determining the precise quantum of Colson’s right to due process, we note that he had already been convicted of a crime and therefore was not entitled to the process accorded one merely accused of a crime. Colson’s conviction resulted in an order to pay $350 upon a schedule that he *588requested. Although the sentence did not include imprisonment, the imposition of a fine exposed Colson to incarceration pursuant to section 1304 for unexcused default in payment. Thus Colson was deprived only of the conditional liberty dependent upon payment of the fine as ordered. See Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 480, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 2599, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972).
IV.
Finally, Lassiter adopted the due process balancing test enunciated in Mathews v. Eldridge, 424 U.S. 319, 334-35, 96 S.Ct. 893, 902-03, 47 L.Ed.2d 18 (1976), in which private interests, governmental interests, and the risk that the procedure used will lead to erroneous decisions are considered.6 Colson argues that the private interest at stake, freedom from incarceration, outweighs the state’s interest in maintaining the simplified section 1304 procedures. He urges that a lawyer’s assistance would ensure that a convicted indigent would not be imprisoned solely for financial inability to pay a fine. Second, he reasons that the risk of an erroneous determination at a section 1304 hearing is enhanced because the State, acting through both its executive and judicial arms, is the moving party..
The criminal code itself insures that a convicted indigent will not be imprisoned solely for a financial inability to pay a fine. Section 1302 prohibits imposition of a criminal fine unless the court determines that the convicted person has the ability to pay it. Moreover, section 1304(2) permits the court to order imprisonment only when the convicted person’s failure to pay the fine is found to be unexcused.7 The statutory restrictions of a section 1304 hearing remove the need of an attorney to protect one from imprisonment due to an inability to pay. Indeed, the only stage of a section 1304 hearing at which an attorney could offer assistance would be a determination under subsection 1304(1) whether the petitioner’s failure to pay was excusable. The mechanics of a section 1304 hearing, however, are not so legally complex that due process should require an unqualified right to an attorney’s assistance.8 In Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 788, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 1762, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973), the Supreme Court opined that there is no automatic constitutional right to counsel at a probation revocation hearing. The complexities of each case must be examined to determine the necessity of a counsel’s assistance. Given the straight-forward nature of the section 1304 hearing, the court should not ordinarily encounter substantial complexities. Serious departures from substantial justice may be appropriately handled on post-conviction review. Moreover, contrary to Colson’s assertion, a section 1304 hearing is not, strictly speaking, an adversary proceeding.9
*589Applying the factors set forth in Mathews, we hold that in these circumstances Colson did not have a right to court-appointed counsel. He had already been convicted of a crime, and the risk of improper incarceration due to lack of counsel was minimal. Indeed, Colson’s counsel does not seek to demonstrate that Colson was in fact illegally incarcerated. Finally, we do not say that appointed counsel will never be required in a section 1304 hearing. Rather, the simplified procedure and absence of complex issues involved in such hearings will normally obviate the need for appointed counsel.
Accordingly, the entry is:
Judgment affirmed.
McKUSICK, C.J., and VIOLETTE, WATHEN and SCOLNIK, JJ., concur.

. 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1304 (1983) provides in pertinent part
1. When a convicted person sentenced to pay a fine defaults in the payment thereof or of any installment, the court, upon the motion of the official to whom the money is payable, as provided in section 1303, or upon its own motion, may require him to show cause why he should not be sentenced to be imprisoned for nonpayment and may issue a summons or a warrant of arrest for his appearance. Unless such person shows that his default was not attributable to a wilful refusal to obey the order of the court or to a failure on his part to make a good faith effort to obtain the funds required for the payment, the court shall find that his default was unexcused and may order him imprisoned until the fine or a specified part thereof is paid. The term of imprisonment for such unexcused nonpayment of the fine shall be specified in the court's order and shall not exceed one day for each $5 of the fine or 6 months, whichever is the shorter....
2. If it appears that the default in the payment of a fine is excusable, the court may make an order allowing the offender additional time for payment, reducing the amount thereof or of each installment, or revoking the fine or the unpaid portion thereof in whole or in part.

. 17-A M.R.S.A. § 1302 (1983) provides
No convicted person shall be sentenced to pay a fine unless the court determines that he is or will be able to pay the fine. In determining the amount and method of payment of a fine, the court shall take into account the financial resources of the offender and the nature of the burden that its payment will impose. No person shall be imprisoned solely for the reason that he will not be able to pay a fine.

. The Argersinger court stated in pertinent part
The trial of vagrancy cases is illustrative. While only brief sentences of imprisonment may be imposed, the cases often bristle with thorny constitutional questions.

Beyond the problem of trials and appeals is that of the guilty plea, a problem which looms large in misdemeanor as well as in felony cases. Counsel is needed so that the accused may know precisely what he is doing, so that he is fully aware of the prospect of going to jail or prison, and so that he is treated fairly by the prosecution.
407 U.S. at 33, 34. The logic of the Argersinger opinion is inapplicable to the narrow confines of a “show cause” hearing under § 1304.

. Cf. Meyer v. Meyer, 414 A.2d 236 (Me.1980), in which we held that the defendant was not denied due process of law where he was not given assistance of court-appointed counsel in a support payment arrearage and contempt proceeding because the contempt was civil in nature rather than criminal.

.In re Gault dealt with juvenile delinquency and an offense that, if committed by an adult, would have carried a fine of $5 to $50 or imprisonment in jail for not more than two months, but when committed by a juvenile could lead to his detention in a state institution until he reached the age of 21. The Supreme Court stated:
The juvenile needs the assistance of counsel to cope with problems of law, to make skilled inquiry into the facts, to insist upon regularity of the proceedings, and to ascertain whether he has a defense and to prepare and submit it. The child "requires the guiding hand of counsel at every step of the proceedings against him.”
387 U.S. at 36, 87 S.Ct. at 1448 (quoting Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45, 69, 53 S.Ct. 55, 64, 77 L.Ed. 158 (1932)). We are unpersuaded by the Gault language because of the contrast between the relatively complex nature of the proceeding in that case and the straightforward nature of the section 1304 proceeding in the case at bar.

. The Lassiter Court noted the distinction between "absolute liberty” and "conditional liberty” discussed in Gagnon v. Scarpelli, 411 U.S. 778, 93 S.Ct. 1756, 36 L.Ed.2d 656 (1973) and Morrissey v. Brewer, 408 U.S. 471, 92 S.Ct. 2593, 33 L.Ed.2d 484 (1972), and suggested a presumption that the right to appointed counsel arises only when an indigent litigant may be deprived of absolute liberty. The presumption must be measured against the three other elements in the due process decision outlined in Mathews:
[Mathews] propounds three elements to be evaluated in deciding what due process requires, viz., the private interests at stake, the government’s interest, and the risk that the procedures used will lead to erroneous decisions. We must balance these elements against each other, and then set their net weight in the scales against the presumption that there is a right to appointed counsel only where the indigent, if he is unsuccessful, may lose his personal freedom.
Lassiter, 452 U.S. at 27, 101 S.Ct. at 2159.

. Otherwise, the court’s options are limited to an order allowing additional time to pay, reducing the amount to be paid or revoking the fine in part or altogether.

. We note, for example, the absence of any direct appeal from section 1304 procedures. The need for an attorney's skills in preserving error for appellate review is therefore absent.

. Cf. Danforth v. State Department of Health and Welfare, 303 A.2d 794 (Me.1973) (attorney assigned to indigent parents in civil neglect proceeding because full panoply of traditional weapons of state are marshalled against defendant parents).