CopyCited 7 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Mar 15, 2021 | 311 Ga. 135
...The
IDA expressly requires the GPDC to contract with conflict attorneys
in death penalty cases. See OCGA §
17-12-12.1. The statute also
allows circuit public defenders to employ, in addition to assistant
and deputy public defenders, “other attorneys” where authorized by
local law and funding. See OCGA §
17-12-31 (a).
It is clear that “other attorneys” refers to attorneys who do not
work in circuit public defender offices....
...See OCGA §
17-12-4 (a) (3) (“The council . . . [m]ay contract[.]”).
16
programs for circuit public defender offices and other attorneys
representing indigent persons in criminal or juvenile cases. . . .”)
(emphasis supplied);
17-12-31 (a) (“The circuit public defender in
each judicial circuit may employ additional assistant circuit public
defenders, deputy circuit public defenders, or other attorneys ....
...“the circuit
public defender or other attorney who represented the indigent person
at the time of the finding of not guilty by reason of insanity” the
19
option to continue representation of that person);
17-12-31 (a) (“The
circuit public defender in each judicial circuit may employ additional
assistant circuit public defenders, deputy circuit public defenders,
or other attorneys ....
...21
its own employees and the circuit public defenders and their
employees, but also through contracts with outside counsel and
ancillary service providers. See, e.g., OCGA §§
17-12-12.1;
17-12-28;
17-12-29;
17-12-31 (a)....
...a contractual relationship with the defendant’s chosen counsel to
provide public resources to aid the defense. See OCGA §§
17-12-5 (b)
(3) (permitting the Georgia Public Defender Council (“GPDC”) to
contract with outside consultants to provide indigent defense
services);
17-12-31 (a) (authorizing circuit public defenders to
employ attorneys and independent contractors, as resources and
local law allow, to provide indigent defense services)....
...itution where trial court
followed local procedure for appointing counsel for indigent
defendant and there was no showing that counsel was unqualified
or ineffective). Moreover, as the majority notes in its opinion, OCGA
§§
17-12-5 (b) (3) and
17-12-31 (a) clearly contemplate that circuit
public defenders and the GPDC may make funds available to
indigent defendants who are not represented by those agencies at
their discretion, to the extent resources and local law allow....
CopyCited 3 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | Feb 21, 1991 | 400 S.E.2d 906
....to provide the constitutional guarantees of the right to counsel and equal access to the courts to all its citizens in criminal cases and to provide . . . [a]dequate defense services for indigent persons accused of crime . . . [and] [a]dequate compensation for counsel who represent indigent persons accused of crime[.] OCGA §
17-12-31 (1) and (2).
The situation presented here is one of the times when a preset, fixed fee is not of financial benefit to the county....
CopyCited 2 times | Published | Supreme Court of Georgia | May 1, 2000 | 529 S.E.2d 610, 2000 Fulton County D. Rep. 1606
...12, Volume 17, known as the “Georgia Indigent Defense Act,” OCGA §
17-12-30, which was promulgated to provide the constitutional guarantees of the right to counsel and equal access to the courts “to all its citizens in criminal cases.” OCGA §
17-12-31.
Adams raised for the first time on appeal the contention that conditions at the jail *404have resulted in such a coercive atmosphere that pre-trial detainees feel compelled to plead guilty to criminal charges in order to obtain transfer to State authorities....
