Bill Changes Ga. Public Defender Funding

Bill Changes Ga. Public Defender Funding
The state's ailing public defender system would get help from local governments under a measure passed by the Georgia House which requires counties to chip in funds for some death penalty defenses.
The House measure is a response to the state's case against Brian Nichols, whose death penalty trial has infuriated lawmakers and racked up at least $1.8 million in defense charges before a jury has even been chosen. Nichols, 33, black, on March 11, 2005, during his trial for rape at the Fulton County Courthouse in Atlanta, overpowered a sheriff's deputy and grabbed her gun, then shot the deputy (Hoyt Teasley), the judge (Georgia Superior Court Judge Rowland Barnes), federal agent David Wilhelm, and a court reporter, Julie Brandau.
State Rep. David Ralston is the bill's sponsor.
The measure, approved 141-21, creates a new cost-sharing formula that requires counties to pick up some of the tab for some death penalty cases. It now goes to the state Senate.
Under the bill, the state would pay the first $150,000 of each capital punishment defense, but the county would have to pay 25 % of the next $100,000 and half of the cost of expenses beyond $250,000.
It also encourages the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council to adopt a flat fee structure for outside counsel brought in to handle capital cases. Other provisions require public defender circuits to hire employees to verify whether defendants are truly eligible for an indigent defender. It also would bar senior judges from hearing death penalty cases, a swipe at Hilton Fuller, the senior judge who was appointed to preside over the Nichols case but stepped down in January.