Kent A. Simmons Vs. State Public Defender

APPEL, Justice.

In this case, we are asked to review determinations by the state public defender rejecting the payment of fees to a court-appointed appellate counsel in excess of $1500. In the underlying criminal cases, appellate counsel successfully obtained reversal of the criminal convictions on the ground that the defendants were provided ineffective assistance of counsel at trial. In response to a fee application in each case, the state public defender determined that under his administrative rules, counsel was not entitled to compensation in excess of $1500 per appeal.

The district court…