Colorado § 18-1-403 - Legal assistance and supporting services.

§ 18-1-403. Legal assistance and supporting services.

All indigent persons who are charged with or held for the commission of a crime are entitled to legal representation and supporting services at state expense, to the extent and in the manner provided for in articles 1 and 2 of title 21, C.R.S.

Source: L. 71: R&RE, p. 398, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 40-1-503. L. 81: Entire section amended, p. 928, § 2, September 1. L. 96: Entire section amended, p. 1016, § 4, effective May 23. L. 2014: Entire section amended, (HB 14-1363), ch. 302, p. 1264, § 11, effective May 31.

Cross references: For other provisions concerning legal counsel for the indigent, see § 16 of art. II, Colo. Const., and Crim. P. 44.

ANNOTATION

Law reviews. For article, "Pronouncements of the U.S. Supreme Court Relating to the Criminal Law Field: 1985-1986", which discusses cases relating to the right to counsel, see 15 Colo. Law. 1578 (1986).

Annotator's note. For other annotations concerning legal counsel for the indigent, see § 16 of art. II, Colo. Const., and Crim. P. 44.

Implementation of ABA standards. The general assembly, in adopting this section, was endeavoring to meet and implement the ABA standards for criminal justice relating to providing defense services. Brown v. District Court, 189 Colo. 469, 541 P.2d 1248 (1975).

For the right of defendant to have counsel appointed for appeal, see In re Griffin, 152 Colo. 347, 382 P.2d 202 (1963).

Income from members of a defendant's household who contribute monetarily to the household should be excluded from an indigency determination if the income is unavailable to the defendant. People v. Greer, 2022 CO 5, 502 P.3d 1012.

Motion within discretion of court. The granting or denial of a motion to provide supporting services to counsel for an indigent defendant in a criminal prosecution is a matter within the sound discretion of the trial court. Brown v. District Court, 189 Colo. 469, 541 P.2d 1248 (1975); People v. Marquiz, 685 P.2d 242 (Colo. App. 1984), aff'd, 726 P.2d 1105 (Colo. 1986); People v. Tafoya, 703 P.2d 663 (Colo. App. 1985).

Must demonstrate need for appointment of expert witness. Having failed to demonstrate any particularized and reasonable need for the appointment of investigatory, expert, or other defense services, defendant was not entitled to the appointment of expert witnesses. Brown v. District Court, 189 Colo. 469, 541 P.2d 1248 (1975).

Defendant entitled to have his expert take fingerprints from a plastic bag containing cocaine seized from his car, however, he was not entitled to require the state to conduct such fingerprint analysis. People v. Roy, 948 P.2d 99 (Colo. App. 1977).

Trial court did not abuse its discretion in failing to provide, at state expense, a private interpreter to translate out-of-court discussions between defendant and his attorney where legal representation was supplied by a pro bono attorney rather than a public defender. People v. Cardenas, 62 P.3d 621 (Colo. 2002).

Applied in Bd. of County Comm'rs v. Buck, 168 Colo. 499, 452 P.2d 6 (1969).