State v. Clark

580 So. 2d 1058
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 23, 1991
DocketNo. 23,092-KW
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 580 So. 2d 1058 (State v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Clark, 580 So. 2d 1058 (La. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

MARVIN, Chief Judge.

Having been concurrently appointed by the trial court to serve as counsel for respective indigent criminal defendants and notified that the Caddo Parish Indigent Defender Board, their usual source of compensation for appointed service, would not be able to pay for their services, two Shreveport attorneys complain to us that their separate motions for reasonable compensation and expenses were denied by the trial court after a hearing.

By one writ application the two attorneys seek that we exercise our supervisory jurisdiction and reverse and render a judgment granting them “reimbursement for their [1059]*1059expenses together with a reasonable hourly fee.” 1

While we recognize the sincerity, as well as the frustration, of applicants and their supporters and will address the contentions and arguments they make, we deny their application.

PROCEDURAL POSTURE

Each attorney, in a separate motion below, specifically prayed for an order requiring either or both Caddo Parish and the State of Louisiana to pay him reasonable compensation and reimburse him for reasonable expenses related to his appointed representation of an indigent defendant.

A copy of each motion was delivered or mailed to the Caddo District Attorney. No service of the motion or rule to show cause, however, was made on either the parish or the state. Applicants’ filings in support of the application, including the transcript, do not indicate an appearance either by the parish, the state, or the district attorney. At the conclusion of direct examination of applicants and another witness at the hearing below, counsel for applicants “tendered” the witnesses for cross-examination only to the trial court.

At the hearing below, applicants presented uncontradicted testimony about their respective appointment and concurrent receipt of the “no-pay” letter from the Caddo IDB2 and about their respective hourly overhead, number of hours and nature of the work done, and detailed expenses incurred or paid. One applicant has shown that he worked 20.15 hours on an appointed case and that his overhead is about $46 per hour. The other'applicant, a salaried employee of a law firm, has shown that he has worked, thus far, 27.60 hours on a pending appointed case.

Applicants also testified generally of the professional and financial burden imposed on them and their paying clients, because of the number and frequency of appointments, and time and expense required, to represent indigent defendants on and after September 1, 1990, without pay.

CONTENTIONS

Applicants specifically assert that the trial court erred in its rulings that applicants’ action was premature and that the parish and the state, against whom the court’s order to compensate was sought, [impliedly were indispensable parties who] should be present in an adversary hearing to contest applicants’ action.

Applicants broadly assert, with arguable support by recent cases interpreting constitutional and statutory provisions from other jurisdictions,

—that the state is responsible for costs relating to the defense of indigent persons prosecuted by the state;
—that attorneys are not ethically required to provide free representation to indigent defendants;
—that uncompensated counsel is ineffective counsel; and
—that forcing lawyers to represent indigent criminal defendants without reasonably compensating them amounts to an unconstitutional “taking” of the lawyer’s property.

DISCUSSION

In 1963, the Supreme Court held that the 14th Amendment imposes the constitutional requirement on each state to appoint counsel for indigent criminal defendants in noncapital as well as capital cases. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963). See also Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25, 92 S.Ct. 2006, 32 L.Ed.2d 530 (1972). Louisiana responded by creating a state indigent defender board (former LRS 15:141 et seq.) in 1966 and, within a decade, by including in the state constitution this provision:

[1060]*1060At each stage of the proceedings, every person is entitled to assistance of counsel of his choice, or appointed by the court if he is indigent and charged with an offense punishable by imprisonment. The legislature shall provide for a uniform system for securing and compensating qualified counsel for indigents. LSA-Const. Art. 1, § 18, in part.

Other laws were thereafter enacted on the same subject matter, some of which amended LRS 15:141 et seq. See State v. Bryant, 324 So.2d 389 (La.1975). Act 873 of 1981 expressed the intent of the Louisiana Legislature to repeal or remove LRS 15:141-143 and to allow Indigent Defender Boards or alternative procedures to provide counsel for indigent criminal defendants in each judicial district of the state.

The constitutional mandate for “uniformity” in Art. 1, § 13 was interpreted to allow that either an indigent defender board or public defender provide the required counsel to indigent criminal defendants in each judicial district, notwithstanding the language “uniform system” in the mandate. The intent of the constitution, according to the Bryant court, was to allow “for workability in a state with political subdivisions of widely varying population, geography, customs and problems,” the primary concern being that all indigent defendants would be appointed counsel. 324 So.2d at p. 393.

We and the trial court are bound to follow the Louisiana Supreme Court’s interpretation of the law, notwithstanding that courts of other states, especially in the 1980’s, interpreting constitutions and statutes of their respective states, in the light of changing conditions, have granted lawyers the relief which applicants seek here. See Annotation, Right of Attorney Appointed by Court for Indigent Defendant To, and Court’s Power to Award, Compensation by Public, in Absence of Statute or Court Rule, 21 ALR 3d 819 (1968), as supplemented.

In Bryant, supra, our supreme court did not ignore the arguable validity of the several contentions the applicants make here, but mentioned:

... changing conditions ... the increase in crime ... difficulty of criminal practice ... the burden on some lawyers if the load is inequitably distributed ... 324 So.2d at p. 391.

Because the Bryant record contained only scant facts, the court did not resolve and only briefly addressed the contentions that forced and uncompensated representation was “ineffective” and was either a deprivation of the lawyer’s property or involuntary servitude. Ibid. There, no services had been performed and the trial court had denied relief as premature. The court indicated, however, that if a district court “should” deny compensation to lawyers appointed for indigents, the supreme court, on proper facts, “will be open to receive and consider a proper application for relief.”

State in Interest of Johnson, 475 So.2d 340 (La.1985), is clearly distinguishable on its facts and on the law that was there applied.

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Related

State v. Wigley
599 So. 2d 858 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1992)
In Re Compensation for Indigents'cr. Def.
580 So. 2d 1058 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1991)

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Bluebook (online)
580 So. 2d 1058, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-clark-lactapp-1991.