Committee discusses paying for offenders’ legal counsel

6-10-2010 Nebraska:

The Judicial Process Committee of the North Dakota Legislature met at the North Dakota State Hospital Wednesday to take reports and discuss pending legislation planned for the upcoming legislative session.

The Judicial Process Committee of the North Dakota Legislature met at the North Dakota State Hospital Wednesday to take reports and discuss pending legislation planned for the upcoming legislative session.

Garnering the most discussion was a piece of draft legislation that would shift the responsibility for arranging and paying for the legal defense counsel for sexually dangerous individuals from the county to the state.

Currently there are 62 individuals in the custody of the State Hospital for evaluation and treatment as sex offenders. These people were civilly committed by the courts to the State Hospital. They are entitled, by state law, to an annual review of their commitment status. They are also entitled to legal representation, paid for by the individual’s home county if they are indigent, during this hearing.

“The system is broke,” said Bonnie Johnson, Cass County administrator speaking on behalf of the North Dakota Association of Counties. “We get a bill for a court-ordered service and we pay it until we run out of money.”

The draft legislation would shift the responsibility to the newly formed Indigent Defense Commission. The commission, formed after the 2008 legislative session, provides public defense lawyers to any indigent person facing criminal charges. The commission does not offer public defenders for mental health hearings or sexually dangerous individuals.

While the Indigent Defense Commission had not met since the draft bill was circulated, Robin Huseby, executive director of the commission, said the board had gone on record opposing any new responsibilities.

The cost of providing legal defense to sexual offenders was not discussed but Huseby suggested each case could take 50 or more hours of legal time. The committee also had the consensus that 99 percent of the sex offenders qualify for indigent defense.

Another issue was finding or creating a list of lawyers willing and capable of handling such a case.

“There is a big difference in defending a criminal in a criminal court and representing a sexual offender in a civil case,” said Sen. Stanley Lyson, R-Williston.

Huseby agreed.

“You can’t give these cases to someone just out of law school,” she said. “Potentially the offender could end up serving for life.”

The committee took no action on the draft legislation and requested more information from the Indigent Defense Commission and the North Dakota Bar Association.

The committee also took reports from Alex Schweitzer, superintendent of the North Dakota State Hospital, on the programs for the treatment of sex offenders and a pilot short-term shelter program for at-risk youth operated in Bismarck. ..Source.. Keith Norman