1. The local public defender shall do all of the following:
a. Represent without fee an indigent person who is under arrest or charged with a crime if the indigent person requests representation or the court orders representation. The local public defender shall counsel and defend an indigent defendant at every stage of the criminal proceedings and prosecute before or after conviction any appeals or other remedies which the local public defender considers to be in the interest of justice unless other counsel is appointed to the case.
b. Represent an indigent party, without fee and upon an order of the court, in child in need of assistance, family in need of assistance, delinquency, and termination of parental rights proceedings pursuant to chapter 232 in a county served by a public defender. The local public defender shall counsel and represent an indigent party in all proceedings pursuant to chapter 232 in a county served by a public defender and prosecute before or after judgment any appeals or other remedies which the local public defender considers to be in the interest of justice unless other counsel is appointed to the case.
c. Make an annual report to the state public defender. The report shall include all cases handled by the local public defender during the preceding calendar year.
2. An appointed attorney under this section is not liable to a person represented by the attorney pursuant to this chapter for damages as a result of a conviction unless the court determines in a postconviction appeal that the person's conviction resulted from ineffective assistance of counsel.
3. The local public defender shall handle every case to which the local public defender is appointed if the local public defender can reasonably handle the case.
4. If a conflict of interest arises or if the local public defender is unable to handle a case because of a temporary overload of cases, the local public defender shall return the case to the court. The court shall first appoint a contract attorney. Appointments by the court shall be on a rotational or equalization basis considering the experience of the attorney and the difficulty of the case.
5. If a contract attorney is not available, or if a conflict of interest or overload of cases prevents a contract attorney from handling a case, the court shall appoint a private noncontract attorney who has agreed to take the case. The appointment shall be on a rotational or equalization basis, considering the experience of the attorney and the difficulty of the case.
88 Acts, ch 1161, § 9; 89 Acts, ch 83, § 4; 91 Acts, ch 268, §413, 439; 94 Acts, ch 1187, §18, 19; 96 Acts, ch 1040, § 3, 4; 99 Acts, ch 135, §8-10
Referred to in § 815.10
Previous Section 13B.8A
Next Section 13B.10
© 2001 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa
Comments about this site or page?
webmaster@legis.iowa.gov.
Please remember that the person listed above does not vote on bills. Direct all comments concerning legislation to State Legislators.
Last update: Mon Jan 22 17:13:42 CST 2001
URL: /DOCS/IACODE/2001/13B/9.html
jhf