State v. Jones

OPINION

FONES, Justice.

The issue in this case is whether an attorney may refuse to accept a court ordered appointment as counsel for an indigent criminal on the ground that such representation would violate an ethics opinion issued by the Board of Professional Responsibility. 1 The ethics opinion declared unequivocally that “county attorneys cannot represent criminal defendants prosecuted by the county officers.” The county attorney was Larry Banks’ law partner, and the ethics opinion expressly declared that partners and associates of the county attorney were disqualified.

The transcript of the…