Rivera v. District Court of Comanche County

• Decision Date: 05 April 1993
• Docket Number: No. 80514,80514
• Parties: Luis Angel RIVERA, Petitioner, v. The DISTRICT COURT OF COMANCHE COUNTY, State of Oklahoma, Honorable Jack Brock, District Judge, Respondent.
• Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court

Page 524

851 P.2d 524

1993 OK 63

Luis Angel RIVERA, Petitioner, v. The DISTRICT COURT OF COMANCHE COUNTY, State of Oklahoma Honorable Jack Brock, District Judge, Respondent.

No. 80514.

Supreme Court of Oklahoma.

April 5, 1993.

Application to Assume Original Jurisdiction. Application for Writ of Prohibition and/or Mandamus.

Petitioner, indigent defendant in a murder case, seeks to compel the attendance of out of state lay witnesses at the expense of the local court fund. The Trial Judge ruled that out of state criminal defense lay witnesses cannot be paid from the local court fund, but rather those witnesses must be reimbursed by the newly created Indigent Defense System.

Application to Assume Original Jurisdiction Granted. Writ of Mandamus Issue.

Ronald H. Mook, Bryan L. Dupler, Oklahoma Indigent Defense System, Capital Trial Div., Norman, for petitioner.

Fred C. Smith, First Asst. Dist. Atty., Comanche County, Lawton, for respondent.

SIMMS, Justice.

This Application for Extraordinary Relief was referred to this Court by the Court of Criminal Appeals for determination of whether, as held by the trial court, recent legislative enactments repeal the long-standing and well recognized responsibility of the court fund imposed by 22 O.S.1991, §§ 718(B) and 723(C) to pay the cost of attendance of out of state witnesses. The Court of Criminal Appeals anticipated this proceeding might present an area of possible jurisdictional conflict between the two appellate courts and pursuant to art. 7, § 4 of the Oklahoma Constitution, prudently referred the matter to this Court for decision. ¹

Petitioner, Luis Rivera, is charged with murder in the first degree in Comanche County and the State is seeking the death penalty. Seeking to secure the attendance of witnesses from outside the state, petitioner filed his Petition for Certificate of the Court for Attendance of Out of State Witnesses in Criminal Proceedings pursuant to 22 O.S.1991, §§ 718, 721-727, the Uniform Act. Petitioner averred that the witnesses were material and necessary to his defense and that the State of Oklahoma has provided through the Uniform Act the means and manner of commanding persons outside the state to attend and testify within this state when such persons are material and necessary witnesses in a criminal prosecution. Petitioner requested the district court to certify his list of witnesses as material and necessary to his case and to provide for the appropriate subpoenas compelling their attendance, and prayed that the cost of their attendance be paid from the court fund pursuant to 22 O.S.1991, §§ 718(B) and 723(C), in keeping with the constitutional requirements regarding compulsory attendance. His assertion that the availability of compulsory attendance is guaranteed to criminal defendants by the Oklahoma Constitution, art. II, §§ 6, 7, 9, 20 and the United States Constitution, Amendments 5, 6, 8, and 14, is unchallenged.

The district court denied petitioner's requested relief that the costs of attendance of the out of state witnesses should be paid by the Comanche County Court Fund. The district court's denial was based on its finding that the newly enacted Indigent Defense Act, H.B. 2065, effective July 1, 1992, and particularly § 5 thereof, amending 22 O.S. § 1355.4, conflicts with and repeals the Court Fund's obligation under the Uniform Act to pay for the costs of attendance of out of state witnesses. Petitioner Rivera sought relief from the Court of Criminal Appeals and that court issued a stay of the criminal prosecution and referred the request for extraordinary relief to this Court. After examination of the pleadings and briefs and consideration of the issues, the Court finds that jurisdiction of this action does, as anticipated by the Court of Criminal Appeals, belong in this Court and this Court accepts jurisdiction to determine the underlying issue. Art. 7, § 4, Okl. Const; State v. Lynch, 796 P.2d 1150 (Okl.1990); Court Fund of Tulsa County v. Cook, Okl., 557 P.2d 875 (1976).

The Uniform Act, 22 O.S.1991, §§ 721-727, has been the law in Oklahoma since 1949. It provides a comprehensive procedure by which parties to a criminal proceeding may obtain the attendance of out of state witnesses whose testimony has been certified by the proper court to be material. The Uniform Act has been adopted in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several territories and it applies to all parties in a criminal proceeding regardless of indigence or non-indigence. Section 723(A) provides any party with a means of obtaining an out of state witness certified by the court as material in the proceeding.

"A. If a person in any state, which by its laws has made provision for commanding persons within its borders to attend and testify in criminal prosecutions, * * * commenced or about to commence, in this state, is a material witness in a prosecution pending in a court of record in this state, * * * a judge of such court may issue a certificate under the seal of the court stating these facts and specifying the number of days the witness will be required. Said certificate may include a recommendation that the witness be taken into immediate custody and delivered to an officer of this state to assure his attendance in this state. This certificate shall be presented to a judge of a court of record in the county in which the witness is found."

The requesting court is responsible under 22 O.S.1991, § 723(C) for payment of the expenses for the attendance of out of state witnesses summoned pursuant to the Uniform Act:

"If the witness is summoned to attend and testify in this state he shall be tendered, at the time he is ordered to appear, travel and expenses pursuant to Section 718 of this title for each day he is required to travel and attend as a witness. A judge of a court of record in this state may approve travel and expenses pursuant to Section 718 of this title for witnesses who voluntarily appear and testify in a criminal prosecution or grand jury investigation upon proper affidavit and showing."

Pursuant to 22 O.S.1991 § 718(B) the court fund where the prosecution is pending is specifically obligated to pay the cost of attendance of out of state witnesses who appear to testify under subpoena issued pursuant to the Uniform Act.

"A witness who appears from another state to testify in this state in a criminal case or proceeding pursuant to a subpoena issued in accordance with the provisions of the Uniform Act to Secure the Attendance of Witnesses from Without a State in Criminal Proceedings shall be reimbursed from the court fund of the court where prosecution is pending for travel and expenses at rates not to exceed those prescribed by law for reimbursement of state employees traveling interstate. Upon conviction, such fees and mileage shall be taxed as costs and collected as other costs in the case." (E.A.)

The right to compel the attendance of material witnesses provided by the Uniform Act together with the financial responsibility for their attendance provided by 22 O.S.1991 § 718, are, as urged by petitioner, statutory expressions of the state and federal constitutional rights to compulsory process and a fair hearing.

The district court's finding that the court fund was not responsible for the costs of attendance of petitioner's out of state witnesses in light of the recent passage of the Indigent Defense Act, H.B. 2065, codified at 22 O.S.1991 § 1355, et seq., and that the indigent defense fund created therein should be responsible to pay for those costs is not convincing.

The Indigent Defense Act does not modify the provisions of the Uniform Act or repeal them either expressly or by implication. There is no conflict between the two. The new legislative enactment is extensive; it provides comprehensive solutions for the problems of representation of indigents in great detail, together with creating the means to fund the Indigent Defense System, however, this Act and the Uniform Act do not cover the same subject matter. The Indigent Defense Act is specifically limited to the means and method of providing counsel in cases "in which the defendant is indigent and unable to employ counsel." Sec. 1(b) of H.B. 2065, amending 22 O.S. 1991, § 1355(B). There is no provision in the Indigent Defense Act for securing the attendance of out of state witnesses in criminal proceedings. The Uniform Act applies to all parties in a criminal proceeding, and while there may be an overlapping area because the Uniform Act undoubtedly will affect some of the people H.B. 2065 was intended to benefit, the Uniform Act is not concerned specifically with indigent persons. The legislative revision of statutory rights of representation of indigent defendants does not conflict with the Uniform Act for the compulsory attendance of out of state witnesses in a criminal case.

Respondent urges that it is § 5 of H.B. 2065, amending 22 O.S.1991, § 1355.4(D) and (E) which removes the obligation of the court fund to pay the cost of petitioner's witnesses and directs those expenses to be paid from the Indigent Defense System budget as follows:

"D. When an attorney has been appointed in accordance with the Indigent Defense Act, in any county, and needs investigative, expert, or other services, a request for compensation for such services shall be made to the Executive Director * * * The Executive Director may authorize compensation at a reasonable hourly rate."

"E. Each individual performing the services provided for in subsection D of this section shall be reimbursed for their necessary travel expenses as provided by the State Travel Reimbursement Act."

Respondent contends that "investigative, expert or other services" will usually require the person performing those "services" to be subpoenaed to give their testimony and that if every part of that Act is to be given effect, "other services" must necessarily include lay witnesses.

Petitioner, however, argues...