According To Procedures Of The California Supreme Court Los Angeles Criminal Defense Attorneys Must Abide By These Rules

APPOINTMENT OF ATTORNEYS IN CRIMINAL CASES

 A.  In criminal matters, upon a verified or certified statement of indigency, the court, acting through the Clerk’s Office, will appoint an attorney for a party in the following instances: 

 1.  In a pending case in which the petition for review has been granted; 

2.  In a pending automatic appeal and/or related state habeas corpus/executive clemency proceedings; 

 3.  In an original proceeding in which an alternative writ or an order to show cause has been issued; 

 4.  In capital cases in the following proceedings: 

 (a) Proceedings for appellate or other postconviction review of state court judgments in the United States Supreme Court, subject however to the power of that court to appoint counsel therein; and 

 (b) Conduct of sanity hearings when indicated. 

 B.  At or after the time the court appoints appellate counsel to represent an indigent appellant on direct appeal, the court also shall offer to appoint habeas corpus/executive clemency counsel for each indigent capital appellant.  Following that offer, the court shall appoint habeas corpus/executive clemency counsel unless the court finds, after a hearing if necessary (held before a referee appointed by the court), that the appellant rejected the offer with full understanding of the legal consequences of the decision. 

 C.  The court’s Automatic Appeals Monitor is responsible for recruiting, evaluating, and recommending the appointment of counsel on behalf of indigent appellants in capital appeals and/or related state habeas corpus/executive clemency proceedings.

 D.  Counsel in automatic appeals and/or related state habeas corpus/executive clemency proceedings are compensated by one of two alternative methods: Under the “time and costs” method, counsel are compensated on an hourly basis and reimbursed for necessary expenses that were reasonably incurred.  The court makes partial payments on counsel’s fee claims while these claims are pending full review.  Under the alternative optional “fixed fee and expenses” method, counsel are paid a fixed amount at regular stages of a case, according to a predetermined assessment of its difficulty. 

 E.  Habeas corpus petitions in capital cases are governed by the timeliness and compensation standards set out in the “Supreme Court Policies Regarding Cases Arising From Judgments of Death.”  Habeas corpus counsel appointed in capital cases have the duty to investigate factual and legal grounds for the filing of a petition for a writ of habeas corpus, as delineated in those policies.