Court Opinion

ID: 9712539
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:55:50.523936+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:12.843891
License: Public Domain

STATON, Judge,
concurring.
I concur with the Majority that an indigent defendant has a due process right to legal counsel where there is a possibility that he may be incarcerated. However, I am troubled with the mechanics of identifying the fundamental right in civil cases prior to a hearing or trial. The presump*1124tion is that it is not necessary to appoint counsel in civil cases. Lassiter v. Department of Social Services (1981), 452 U.S. 18, 101 S.Ct. 2153, 68 L.Ed.2d 640; Kennedy v. Wood (1982), Ind.App., 439 N.E.2d 1367. To avoid the unnecessary waste of judicial time as well as other resources, some guidelines should be offered to the trial court.
When an indigent defendant appears before the trial court, the trial judge would be well advised to review the pleadings before him and the applicable law to determine whether the possibility of incarceration exists. If the trial judge determines that the possibility exists, he should satisfy himself of the indigencey and appoint legal counsel for the defendant. If the defendant insists on going pro se then the trial judge should employ the same or similar procedure used for criminal defendants. See Shelton v. State (1979), 181 Ind.App. 50, 390 N.E.2d 1048, trans. den.