Hello paladin01 and thank you for your question.
Well, the simple answer is that the taxpayers of Virginia are paying
for the defense. The reason is that the two defendants are considered
(by law) to be "Indigent" (see below for full explanation) In other
words they have no means (income/or savings) to pay for their own
legal defence, so the court must appoint one at the public expense.
Definition of Indigent:
"indigent
1) n. a person so poor and needy that he/she cannot provide the
necessities of life (food, clothing, decent shelter) for
himself/herself. 2) n. one without sufficient income to afford a
lawyer for defense in a criminal case. If the court finds a person is
an indigent, the court must appoint a public defender or other
attorney to represent him/her. This constitutional right of counsel
for the indigent was determined by Gideon v. Wainright in 1963, when a
penciled letter from a prisoner came to the attention of prominent
Washington attorney Abe Fortas, who carried the case to the Supreme
Court for free. Fortas later became an Associate Justice of the
Supreme Court. 3) adj. referring to a person who is very poor and
needy"
http://dictionary.law.com/
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"FAIRFAX, Virginia (AP) -- With the first trial in the Washington
sniper case set to begin on Tuesday, the court-appointed lawyers for
the two defendants have submitted nearly $900,000 in bills so far for
reimbursement by Virginia taxpayers."
"Fairfax County Commonwealth's Attorney Robert F. Horan Jr. said he
has never seen so much money spent on a defense in the 37 years he has
served as chief prosecutor in Virginia's most populous county
My personal view is that Virginia made a very bad mistake when they
took the cap off the fees" paid to court-appointed defense lawyers in
capital cases, Horan said. "It's an open invitation to file any motion
under the sun. It's just totally changed the landscape on these
things."
http://www.cnn.com/2003/LAW/10/13/sprj.dcsp.trial.costs.ap/
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"It is rare for a Virginia court to allow an indigent defendant like
Muhammad to hire a jury consultant at taxpayer expense, but Muhammad's
lawyers say the special circumstances make it necessary"
http://www.courttv.com/trials/sniper/080803_consultant_ap.html
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Thank you for your question and if you have any doubts regarding my
answer, do not hesitate to ask for clarification.
Very best regards.
THX1138
Search strategy included:
costs "John Allen Muhammad" "Virginia taxpayers"
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