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Kootenai County to apply $161,000 returned from state capital-crimes fund toward public defense office space
Summary
Commissioner Leslie Duncan told the board the state will return $161,000 from the Capital Crimes Defense Fund; she proposed using the money toward county public defense office space housing costs.
Commissioner Leslie Duncan told the Kootenai County Board of Commissioners on March 11 that the state is returning $161,000 to the county from the Capital Crimes Defense Fund after the state assumed public defense for capital cases.
Duncan said the county received $161,000 and she suggested using that unanticipated revenue to help pay the county’s public defense office space costs. “I would suggest that we use [the funds] towards our continuing public defense obligations, which is housing them,” Duncan said.
She told the board the amount will not cover a full year of space costs and noted the fund has been heavily drawn down by several capital cases at the state level. Duncan said she had previously participated on the approval body for capital-crimes defense requests and described the account as “pretty brutal” due to recent cases. She said some counties that host public defense offices already are speaking to the Legislature about the costs.
Commissioners did not take formal action on the suggestion during the meeting; the item was presented as a discussion.
