Request By:
Mr. James E. Parsons
County Coordinator
County of Boone
P.O. Box 536
Burlington, Kentucky 41005
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Charles W. Runyan, Assistant Deputy Attorney General
Your recent letter raises the question as to whether or not the county must bear the expense of expert witnesses' fees, psychological examinations, etc., used in defense of indigents charged with felonies and represented by the public defender.
At the outset, it must be noted that county obligations are not created unless expressly authorized by statute.
Hazelip v. Fiscal Court of Edmonson County, 228 Ky. 80, 14 S.W.2d 398 (1929) 399.
You have indicated by telephone that under KRS 31.160(1)(b), Boone County is currently committed to a public defender program. Such commitment is permissive, but when a county selects a public defender program under that statute, it is committed for that particular fiscal year. This commitment is on a year by year basis. See 504 KAR 1:020, Sections 1 and 2. Since the county is currently under a public defender program, Boone County must pay the expert withnesses' fees pursuant to KRS 31.190(1), 31.200(1), and 31.240(3). The state furnishes $16,000 a year for the program, but that covers defense counsel fees only. See KRS 31.050(2). Thus under the above mentioned statutes, the county must bear necessary defense expenses other than the defense counsel fees covered in the state's appropriation of $16,000.
As relates to psychological examinations, KRS 31.185 applies. Where the defense attorney considered the use of state facilities as being impractical, the court concerned may authorize the use of private facilities to be paid for on court order by the county.