State v. Folsom
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 the instant criminal case, Defendant was charged with murder. Defendant retained private counsel, and, on May 3, 2012, filed a motion asking the district court to order the provision of government-funded defense resources. The district court denied the motion, concluding that the IDA regulated a matter of procedure, and thus, the amended statute applied retroactively to cases pending on its effective date. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that on the date Defendant filed his motion requesting the provision of defense resources, his right to request those resources was fully vested. Therefore, Defendant was entitled to the benefit of the law in place on May 3, 2012, and subsequent changes to the law could not be applied retroactively to undermine his motion. Remanded.
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