State v. Earl
Annotate this CaseOn May 8, 2012, legislative amendments to the Indigent Defense Act (IDA) became effective. The amendments override the Supreme Court’s construction of the prior version of the IDA by precluding an indigent defendant in a criminal action from retaining private counsel while requesting public defense resources from the government. In two criminal cases against Defendant, Defendant, who was represented by private counsel, filed requests for government-funded defense resources. Defendant’s motions for government-funded defense resources were filed on May 8, 2012 and November 29, 2012. The district court judges denied Defendant’s requests. The Supreme court affirmed, holding (1) the conduct being regulated by the IDA is the exercise of a mature right to indigent defense resources, and the law in effect at the time that Defendant exercised that mature right was the amended version of the IDA; and (2) Defendant’s constitutional and statutory challenges to the application of the IDA amendments to her case were without merit.
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