State Public Defender v. Iowa District Court for Wapello County

NEUMAN, Justice.

This case concerns Iowa Code section 915.37 (1999). The statute plainly authorizes the district court to appoint an attorney to represent the interests of child victims in connection with criminal prosecutions for sex abuse, obscenity and child endangerment. What is less plain is who must pay for those legal services, the State or the county. We granted the State Public Defender’s application for writ of certio-rari to consider its claim that the district court acted illegally when it ordered the State to pay such fees. Because we agree with the district court’s interpretation…