Commissioners approve $338,000 indigent defense agreement for 2025 with new conflict limits

The McPherson County Board of Commissioners approved the county's 2025 indigent defense agreement, authorizing a contract totaling $338,000 and incorporating a roughly 5% increase over the prior year. County staff said the agreement covers appointed defense attorneys the district judges may name to represent indigent defendants.

County Administrator Rick Witte summarized the agreement and said the contract adds a clause (identified in the draft as conflict number 6 on page 3) addressing conflict attorneys. Under the updated language, when a judge appoints an attorney for a felony case the judge may also have that attorney represent related misdemeanor charges, but the county added dollar limits on that expanded representation; previously there were no limits for those misdemeanor appointments paired with felony cases. The agreement lists four attorneys: Boyer Price and Charles Lindbergh as the primary attorneys and Zachary Strela and Ty Cobb as conflict attorneys; the transcript indicates other conflict counsel may be appointed in specific circumstances.

Commissioners confirmed that the county executes the agreement annually and that payments to contracted attorneys are disbursed monthly. The transcript indicates any year-end surplus under the contract is allocated between the two primary attorneys per the agreement language. Commissioners voted unanimously to approve the 2025 agreement as presented.