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IA: $1500 fee cap for indigent criminal appeals unconstitutional

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

The Iowa Supreme Court holds that the $1500 fee cap on indigent appeals is unconstitutional. This is a remarkable opinion worthy of being a brief law review article itself considering the NLADA and ABA standards, cases considering "takings" of counsel's time, counsel's standing, and systemic ineffective assistance from a fee cap creating a disincentive for defense counsel to adequately perform in indigent criminal appeals. Simmons v. State Public Defender, 07–0870 (Iowa November 24, 2010): Based on our review of the case, we conclude that the plaintiff has shown that if Iowa imposes a hard-and-fast fee cap of $1500 in all cases, such a fee cap would in many cases substantially undermine the right of indigents to effective assistance of counsel in criminal proceedings under article I, section 10 of the Iowa Constitution...continue to full post

Full post as published by Law Of Criminal Defense on November 27, 2010 (boomark / email).