State ex rel. O'Brien v. Ely

SHANGLER, Judge.

The relator Public Defender for the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit petitioned for our writ to prohibit the respondent circuit judge from appointment of the Public Defender as counsel for the contemnor cited for failure to pay an award of child support in a domestic relations proceeding. The petition of the relator alleges that the pretended appointment of the Public Defender as counsel for a civil contempt contemnor usurps judicial authority not granted by Public Defenders Chapter 600, under which the circuit judge purports to act. Our preliminary rule issued on the petition. It…