Public Defender Application: Fill & Download for Free

It depends on what you mean when you say “claim they can’t afford a lawyer.” Consider the following two statements:“I earn a bazillion dollars a year, live in an enormous mansion, and drive a Maserati, but I am unable to afford a lawyer. My Maserati gets such lousy mileage that I have to spend all of my disposable income on gasoline.”“I’m flat broke and am the sole support for my 47 children.” (Submitted by a criminal defendant who drove to the courthouse in a Maserati.)Situation #1: The applicant for a public defender who tells the truth but doesn’t meet the criteria for indigency.The example I provided above is exaggerated, but this kind of thing does happen sometimes. You’d be surprised at the income levels of some people who apply for indigent legal services.When courts receive public defender applications from people who can afford to pay for their own legal services, the only thing that happens is that the application gets denied.Situation #2: The applicant for a public defender who is not telling the truth.The first thing that happens to these people is, they get caught. Courts aren’t dumb enough to take a defendant’s claim that they’re indigent at face value. The defendant has to fill out a form and provide detailed information about their financial status. The court can require verification. And, as Cliff Gilley says, extreme poverty is difficult to fake. When you show up for court in your Maserati, you’re gonna get caught.The second thing that happens to these people is, they get the privilege of reimbursing the public defender’s office for the attorney fees that were expended on their behalf.The third thing that happens to these people is, they become eligible to spend a bonus period of time as a guest of the state, usually for far longer than they would have been eligible if they had not committed perjury on their application forms. Of course, the accommodations they will be provided by the state aren’t exactly the Waldorf Astoria. Most people do not enjoy the prospect of becoming a guest of the state for an additional five years.

In the court where I worked, the judge had to approve any public defender appointments. When a motion (a simple form) for a public defender came through, the judge’s clerk would ask the city attorney’s office whether they would seek jail time in the event of a conviction. No jail, no public defender.If the city attorney said they would seek jail time, the judge would review the motion. The defendant had to list their financial assets on the form. They had to be pretty close to poverty to qualify. One defendant listed a car as his only asset. The judge denied the application, and added “Sell the car” at the bottom of the form.

When you introduce evidence unrelated to the matter at hand it is usually objected to by opposing counsel as irrelevant. There are exceptions to the rule and the court will usually ask what the purpose of the question was related to so that they have the background to rule on the objection. Certain evidence is not allowed to challenge the veracity of the witness, such as criminal charges that are not a conviction.When you seek to prove that a witness may not be truthful you are trying to “impeach” the witness.I represented a client that had an enclosed trailer stolen and found in the possession of the witness. The trailer had been modified and damaged so my client was seeking a money judgment for the value of the trailer instead of the return of the property. The witness also had pending felony charges regarding theft of the trailer.The witness showed up to trial with a private attorney from a pricey local firm. To try to convince the judge that he would not steal the trailer he claims to have purchased from some unknown person and that he was a successful business person and owned a large boat, Harley motorcycle, and had his own business installing siding on houses.I questioned him next and got him to expand and brag about his money and possessions and claim he usually carried large amounts of cash.Then I asked him about the pending criminal charges and his counsel immediately objected. The judge gave me a look that showed she was curious why I would venture into this obviously prohibited area and stated that the charges could not be admitted into evidence to impeach the witness. She also knew that I was a seasoned attorney so she then waited to see what I was trying to do.My response was that I was not seeking the information for the fact of the pending charges, but as foundation with regard to the specific information about the case. Namely, the witness had applied for and been appointed a public defender. The application is a sworn statement under oath regarding the finances of the applicant that proves that they cannot afford to hire a private attorney.Objection overruled. The questions were answered and the judge gave my client a judgment for every cent that she sought.It certainly did not hurt that the judge was the former chief public defender for the district.