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III. Judicial Standards and Criminal Matters
 
  11. General Principles of Criminal Defense  
  Article 69-Legal aid and state funded representation  
69.1 Legal aid and state funded representation  
  Legal aid (state funded representation) is when the State assists a defendant in the provision of an expert counsel including the fair and proper preparation of a defense against any criminal accusations.  
69.2 Principle of legal aid  
  The founding principle of legal aid is that when a man or woman does not have the financial means to hire and pay for professional and expert representation in order to defend themselves against the charges, the state is obligated to assist them in sourcing and financing suitable representation.  
69.3 Two different streams of legal aid  
  The state shall provide two different streams of legal aid:  
  1. State appointed defense counsel where a suit relates to charges that are Level 3 or below; and  
  2. State approved budget and counsel choice where a suit relates to charges that are Level 4 and above.  
  The two different streams recognizes that suits involving more serious charges must provide for greater fairness and choice on behalf of the accused of a defense counsel of their choice and a suitable budget for such work, compared to a suit of a lesser charge.  
69.4 Determination and approval method of legal aid  
  The following shall be the determination method of legal aid  
  1. Budgets and costs will be for sections of representation (eg arraignment, plea, trial or hearing only). Approval for arraignment legal aid does not automatically mean approval for trial legal aid;  
  2. An estimate of budget (for time and resources) will be created upon an application for legal aid for a section of representation. The rates will be based on normal commercial rates of major city representatives and their assistants;  
  3. The applicant must either have absolutely no assets, or assets of family or relatives, or assets to the value of less than four times the cost of the budget estimate for action. A man or woman with greater than this level of assets is forbidden to be granted legal aid, but may instead face a compulsory seizure of certain assets to pay for their state organized representation if they refuse to represent themselves or seek their own private representation.  
  4. A man or woman being approved legal aid with assets must then agree to give up a maximum of one half the costs of the legal aid proceedings, or one quarter of their assets (which ever is smaller). A man or woman who refuses shall have the assets seized to pay for their legal expenses.  
69.4 Level 3 or below  
  Where a suit involves one or more charges of a level 3 or below severity, the state shall directly appoint the accused counsel,without the accused having the opportunity to choose, or decline such representation.  
  Upon appointment, an accused shall retain their right to dismiss their state appointed representative only after 14 days written notice. An accused may only dismiss a maximum of two (2) state appointed legal aid counsel's in any one suit of level 3 or below offence.  
69.5 Level 4 or above legal aid budget  
  Where a suit involves one or more charges of a level 4 or above severity, the state shall enable the accused the right to choose their own state funded counsel from a list of counsel's who agree to be paid by the state for legal aid suits.  
  The state shall be required to make sufficient budget arrangements that such suits shall be funded to not less than 90% of the normal fees charged by such counsels and that the calibre of such counsel's represent the highest and well regarded in their field.  
     
     
     
 
 

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