Court Opinion

ID: 9789665
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:39:53.774229+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:23.604491
License: Public Domain

PARKS, Judge,
specially concurring:
While I agree that the judgment and sentence should be affirmed, I feel it necessary to comment on the issue of state-appointed investigators. The appellant, relying on Ake v. Oklahoma, 470 U.S. 68, 105 S.Ct. 1087, 84 L.Ed.2d 53 (1985), urges that the trial court erred in refusing to appoint investigators at state expense. The majority finds no error based on Trowbridge v. State, 502 P.2d 495 (Okla.Crim.App.1972). Although Trowbridge directly addresses the appointment of investigators at state expense, it is questionable whether this is still good law in light of the Ake decision. See Trowbridge, supra at 502.
Ake requires that an indigent defendant be supplied with a psychiatrist if he shows that the services are necessary to protect his due process rights. Ake, supra, 105 S.Ct. at 1097. This Court has not yet extended this rule to include investigative services, although this adoption may be mandated at some future time.
Accordingly, I would affirm.