The Carbon County Commission has finalized an agreement for public defender services with Torgerson Law Offices, Oliver & Sutterud, and Travis Blackburn. The agreement was formally ratified during the regular commission meeting March 7.
The County has a statutory and constitutionally-mandated responsibility to provide public defender services. Utah is one of only two states where the financial and administrative obligation of providing the services falls to the counties.
According to the agreement, the public defender services will be provided to indigent persons charged with criminal violations in the Carbon County District, Justice, and Juvenile Courts, and to indigent parents and guardians in Juvenile Court parental defense cases.
As spelled out in the agreement, the County agrees to pay the attorneys the sum of $30,316.67 per month during the term of the agreement for the provision of legal services. The consideration includes previously negotiated agreements with the individual attorneys. The contract runs from March 1, 2018 through February 28, 2020, and will automatically renew every two years at the same rate unless either party gives adequate notice of intent to terminate or renegotiate the terms of the agreement.
The County also agrees to establish a separate expense fund for each contract year. Under the terms of the agreement, attorneys’ fees for extraordinary expenses approved by the Court, including but not limited to investigator fees, laboratory costs and forensic services, translator services and interpreters, social worker services, and transcripts and witness fees shall be paid from the expense fund.
There is also a provision noting the county’s intent to pursue a grant in an unspecified amount from the Utah Indigent Defense Commission (IDC) to cover a portion of the consideration of the attorneys’ funding. Deputy County Attorney Christian Bryner advised the grant requires the attorneys to agree to caseload and performance monitoring, and case reporting. He said, “Our agreement has incorporated terms of the grant requirements into it and they have indicated they will comply with those provisions so that we can qualify for the grant.” Bryner advised the grant application was nearly completed, and the commission will revisit the status of the application at the next meeting on March 21.
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