State Public Defender v. Iowa District Court, 2016 Iowa Sup. LEXIS 93

On April 7, 2015 a Story County judge appointed the local public defender to represent juvenile S.J. and scheduled a detention hearing the same day.
About an hour after appointment the local public defender moved to withdraw, citing concurrent conflicts of interest with three current clients.
At the 2:20 p.m. detention hearing counsel explained the conflict and stated the office could not represent S.J.; the court continued the matter and later ordered S.J. transferred to shelter care.
Within two hours the court entered orders withdrawing the local public defender and appointing conflict-free counsel.
On April 17 the district court issued an order taxing court and travel costs to the state public defender, finding the local office had done nothing to mitigate the withdrawal’s effects or secure replacement counsel and that the state public defender failed to coordinate representation.
The state public defender petitioned for certiorari; the Iowa Supreme Court sustained the writ, concluding the district court erred and exceeded its authority.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the district court could tax court and travel costs to the state public defender	Taxation proper because public defender’s withdrawal and failure to secure replacement wasted time and resources	No statutory authority to tax such costs to the state public defender; costs payable by county under juvenile statutes	Reversed — court lacked statutory authority to tax those costs to state public defender
Whether taxing costs was a permissible sanction without prior notice or hearing	Sanction appropriate for misconduct in withdrawing and failing to mitigate consequences	Taxation functioned as a sanction on a nonparty without notice or hearing, violating due process	Reversed — sanctioning nonparty without notice violated due process
Whether local/state public defenders breached statutory or ethical duties by withdrawing without arranging substitute counsel	Court argued they should have identified and arranged conflict-free counsel before hearing	Statute requires returning case to court; court, not defender, appoints successor; withdrawal was required by rules and statute	Reversed — defenders complied with statutory/ethical duties; court, not defender, had responsibility to appoint successor

Mullane v. Central Hanover Bank & Trust Co., 339 U.S. 306 (1950) (due process requires notice and opportunity to be heard)
In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1 (1967) (juveniles have Sixth Amendment right to counsel)
State Public Defender v. Iowa Dist. Ct. for Plymouth County, 747 N.W.2d 218 (Iowa 2008) (certiorari standard: review for excess of jurisdiction or illegality)
City of Cedar Rapids v. Linn County, 267 N.W.2d 673 (Iowa 1978) (court costs taxable only as provided by statute)
Woodbury County v. Anderson, 164 N.W.2d 129 (Iowa 1969) (absent statutory authority court lacks power to tax costs)
State v. Smitherman, 733 N.W.2d 341 (Iowa 2007) (Sixth Amendment guarantees conflict-free counsel)