Opinion
No. 4-651 / 03-1283
Filed December 8, 2004
Certiorari to the Iowa District Court for Polk County, Eliza J. Ovrom, Judge.
The State Public Defender challenges a district court order that it pay court-appointed attorney fees in a parole revocation proceeding. WRIT SUSTAINED. CASE REMANDED.
Thomas G. Becker, State Public Defender, and Mark C. Smith, First Assistant State Public Defender, for plaintiff.
Nancy L. Pietz, Des Moines, for defendant in district court proceedings.
Considered by Mahan, P.J., and Miller and Vaitheswaran, JJ.
The State Public Defender filed a petition for certiorari, asserting that the district court erred in ordering his office to pay attorney fees incurred by counsel in a parole revocation proceeding. The Public Defender relied on a 2002 amendment that eliminated his funding for such representation. 2002 Iowa Acts ch. 1067, § 18 (codified at Iowa Code § 815.11 (2003)).
On November 10, 2004, the Iowa Supreme Court decided Pfister Mariner v. Iowa District Court for Polk County, ___ N.W. 2d ___ (Iowa 2004). The court held that there was "no constitutional infirmity in the amendment to section 815.11, which eliminates the State public defender's responsibility for court-appointed counsel fees in parole revocation matters." Pfister, ___ N.W.2d at ___. The court nevertheless stated that "[i]f representation is requested and the court determines that counsel is warranted under [United States Supreme Court] standards, an attorney must be appointed by the court and paid by the State." Id. at ___. The court found authority for payment of fees in Iowa Code section 815.1, which provides that an award of attorney fees to a court appointed attorney be paid out of general fund if the person liable to pay cannot pay them. This opinion controls our disposition of the case.
In ordering the payment of attorney fees, the district court noted that counsel was appointed to represent Jessie Hill and "did perform services for Mr. Hill." The court stated "it is equitable that her fee claim should be paid." The court decreed that "the office of the State Public Defender pay" the fees.
We sustain the State Public Defender's writ of certiorari to the extent he claims his office is no longer responsible for payment of these fees. We remand for a determination of (1) whether representation was requested and (2) whether counsel was warranted under United States Supreme Court standards. If counsel is warranted, payment should be ordered from the general fund.