State v. Schoonmaker

OPINION

BOSSON, Justice.

{1} Defendant Jake Sehoonmaker was charged with child abuse resulting in great bodily harm. Though he was declared indigent, and thus qualified for representation by the public defender’s office, Defendant’s family raised enough funds to retain private counsel to represent him. However, neither Defendant nor his family could afford to pay for expert witnesses that were essential to his defense. Given no alternative, defense counsel tried unsuccessfully to withdraw in favor of the public defender so that, with public financing, his client could put on an adequate…