§ 16-87-212 - Court fees and expenses.
16-87-212. Court fees and expenses.
(a) (1) The Arkansas Public Defender Commission is authorized to pay for certain expenses regarding the defense of indigents.
(2) The expenses shall include, but shall not necessarily be limited to, fees for appointed counsel, expert witnesses, temporary investigators, testing, and travel.
(3) (A) Whenever a judge orders an authorized payment in a case involving an indigent person, a copy of the order accompanied by a detailed explanation of services rendered, time spent, and expenses incurred shall be transmitted to the commission, and the commission shall set the amount of compensation.
(B) Orders as authorized throughout this chapter shall be paid by the commission provided sufficient funds are available.
(b) (1) With the approval of the executive director, trial public defenders, appointed private attorneys, and the Capital, Conflicts, and Appellate Office are hereby authorized to utilize the services of the State Crime Laboratory for pathology and biology, toxicology, criminalistics, raw drug analysis, latent fingerprint identification, questioned documents examination, firearms and toolmarks identification, and in other such areas as the trial judge may deem necessary and appropriate.
(2) If approved by the executive director, the State Crime Laboratory shall provide the requested services.
(c) At the discretion of the commission, capital murder cases and all proceedings under the Arkansas Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 37.5, shall be paid entirely by the commission.