Montana Code 47-1-401. Conflicts of interest — conflict defender division administrator
47-1-401. Conflicts of interest — conflict defender division administrator. (1) The director shall establish a conflict defender division to provide for the representation of indigent defendants in circumstances in which, because of conflict of interest, the public defender division or the appellate defender division is unable to provide representation to a defendant.
Terms Used In Montana Code 47-1-401
- Appellate: About appeals; an appellate court has the power to review the judgement of another lower court or tribunal.
- Defendant: In a civil suit, the person complained against; in a criminal case, the person accused of the crime.
- Director: means the director of the office of state public defender hired by the director of the department of administration as provided in 2-15-1029. See Montana Code 47-1-103
- Indigent: means that a person has been determined under the provisions of 47-1-111 to be indigent and financially unable to retain private counsel. See Montana Code 47-1-103
- Public defender: Represent defendants who can't afford an attorney in criminal matters.
- Public defender: means an attorney employed by or under contract with the office and assigned to provide legal counsel to a person under the provisions of this chapter, including attorneys employed by or under contract with the appellate defender division and the conflict defender division. See Montana Code 47-1-103
(2)The position of conflict defender division administrator is hired and supervised by the director under 47-1-105. The conflict defender division administrator reports directly to the director and not to the public defender division administrator.
(3)The conflict defender division administrator may not handle cases.
(4)All attorneys handling conflict of interest cases shall report to the conflict defender division administrator.