Request By:
Honorable Robert C. Ewald
Wyatt, Grafton & Sloss
Attorneys at Law
Citizens Plaza - 28th Floor
Louisville, Kentucky 40202
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Robert F. Ristaneo, Assistant Attorney General
This is in answer to your letter of May 12, 1977 in which you inquired whether the statutory amendments of KRS Chapters 202A and 31 mandate the representation of persons unable to retain their own counsel by the public defender in court proceedings which threaten involuntary confinement pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 202A, or may the district public defender in Jefferson County decline to undertake such representation in lieu of a system of voluntary representation of such persons provided by attorney members of the Louisville Bar Association through its Mental Inquest Committee.
The District Public Defender's Office may decline on the basis of the facts presented.
The provisions of Chapter 202A.040(3), 202A.050(4) and 202A.080(4) provide as follows:
"The respondent shall be represented at such hearing by an attorney either retained by the respondent or provided by the Commonwealth. . ."
KRS 31.010 provides as follows:
"There is hereby established as an independent agency of state government the office of public defender, in order to provide for the establishment, maintenance and operation of a state sponsored and controlled system for the representation of indigent persons accused of crimes or mental states which may result in their incarceration or confinement."
The statutory language of the aforementioned statutory provisions allows an indigent the option of employing the free legal services of the Louisville Bar Association's Mental Inquest Committee or have counsel provided by the District Public Defender's Office in Jefferson County. Clearly, the final decision as to legal representation rests with the indigent.
The intent, we believe, of the legislature is that indigents have adequate legal representation, whether it be by a committee sanctioned by a bar association or a district public defender. Pursuant to KRS 202A, the indigent has a choice -- the Mental Inquest Committee or the District Public Defender's Office.