Judge: County commission decision 'contrary to law'

Commissioner says judges 'went outside the system' to pay attorneys

Grant County Superior Court Judge Evan Sperline questioned whether county commissioners have the authority to set the rates for conscripted, indigent-defense attorneys at $550 per case.

"If that's their decision, I think it's clearly contrary to law," Sperline said of the commission decision Tuesday morning of how to pay lawyers hired in an emergency system developed by superior court judges earlier this year.

County commissioners announced they had found $80,000 from late penalties paid on property taxes and accrued interest.

For the 129 cases assigned to local attorneys who volunteered or were conscripted to represent indigent defendants after the disbarment of public defender Tom Earl, commissioners ruled the attorneys be paid at the $550 per case rate, with an additional $8,500 appropriated for

expenses.

Sperline said the commission has the authority to appropriate money, while the judges should be the ones to decide how to spend it. Because of this separation, Sperline said the commissioners should have appropriated the money and let the judges decide the rate.

In fact, the commissioners' own attorney made that argument in briefs to the court arguing the issue, Sperline said.

Superior court judges had decided that the attorneys receive 82.5 percent of their fees for their conscripted work, which means most would receive between $132 and $180 per hour for their services.

Commissioners, facing a tight budget crunch, lobbied for a lower rate of $50 per hour. The $550 per case is what the county is paying its six contracted attorneys who replaced Early for public defense.

Sperline said he realizes the $80,000 would probably not cover all the hours logged by conscripted attorneys. But when that money ran out, the judges should then lobby the commission for more, and commissioners could choose not to appropriate any more at that point.

Grant County Commissioner Leroy Allison disagreed with Sperline's assertion. Allison said the commissioners acted within their authority because the judges created a separate system to pay the conscripted attorneys.

The commission had not entered into an agreement with the conscripted attorneys, Allison said, and had expressed concern about per-hour fees being difficult to control.

Commissioners created a separate line item for conscripted attorneys' fees, which Allison said is within the authority of the commission.

The commission had only approved agreements with Earl, before he was disbarred, and the other contracted attorneys, all at a per-case rate, Allison said.

"When someone goes outside that system, we have the responsibility," he said.

"When we were notified of the hourly rate, we voiced major concerns," Allison added.

He said that is "impossible to budget for." In fact, no one knows exactly how much money will be paid out because most of these cases are still open.

The judges have argued that they were asked to implement a stop-gap system in an emergency, and the per-hour rate is what they devised.

Commissioner Tim Snead said he fears where this conflict may be have to be resolved.

"I still think that question is going to have to be answered, and I'm afraid that's going to be through the court system," he said.