LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday rejected a request by the Arkansas Public Defender Commission to reconsider its order that the commission pay the defense expenses of a Memphis man accused of killing a soldier.
Thursday’s unsigned order comes five weeks after the high court ruled that Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad was entitled to state funding for his defense to capital murder and other charges since he is too poor to pay the costs himself. The 24-year old Muslim convert could face the death penalty if convicted of the June2009 shooting that killed Pvt. William Long of Conway and wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula outside a west Little Rock recruiting center.
Muhammad, who claims to have ties to al-Qaida, has described the shooting as a “jihadi attack” in revenge for U.S. military policies he claims target fellow Muslims in the Middle East.
Muhammad’s attorney Claiborne Ferguson, whose fee is being paid by Muhammad’s parents, said he hopes the Supreme Court’s decision Thursday will mean the end to his six-month dispute with the commission over whether Muhammad’s defense should be funded with public money. Expense requests will have to be approved by the commission under the court’s ruling.
“I’m concerned that this is going to be an ongoing conflict,” Ferguson said. “I will continue to fight for what my client needs to defend himself.”
Ferguson said he didn’t know when he’ll submit his funding request. He is in the process of submitting the required paperwork to the commission to show that he meets agency standards, a step required to obtain the state funds, and has also improved his credentials by obtaining board certification in criminal-trial advocacy.
There will be no fight, said Didi Sallings, the commission’s executive director.
“The court ruled, and I lost,” she said.
The commission is working to establish procedures on how to address similar applications for funding since there’s no framework provided by statute, Sallings said. She said the commission will consider adopting such rules next month.
Agency officials have argued the law that established the commission bars it from providing funding to defendants whose attorneys are not commission-appointed.
The presiding judge, Herb Wright, ordered the agency to pay in January, ruling that Muhammad is due state funding since he’s indigent. The Pulaski County Circuit Court judge said Claiborne’s legal fees aren’t an issue since they’re being paid by people who have no legal obligation to fund Muhammad’s defense.
The commission appealed Wright’s order, but the high court sided with Ferguson in May, ruling that Arkansas Code 16-87-212 clearly allows the commission to pay costs such as expert witnesses, temporary investigators, testing, and travel for indigent defendants who are represented by nonappointed counsel.
The agency had asked the high court for a new hearing, arguing that the justices’ ruling did not determine whether the commission has the authority to require attorneys seeking state funds to meet the qualifications it requires of public defenders. The high court rejected that argument without comment in Thursday’s ruling.
The General Assembly passed a law last year regarding the qualifications of defense attorneys seeking state funding to prevent nonappointed attorneys from receiving state funds, but both Sallings and Ferguson say the new measure doesn’t add those restrictions.
Since his arrest, Muhammad has been charged in attacks on jailers and a fellow inmate. He’s being represented on those charges by a commission-appointed lawyer. No trial date has been set, pending the determination of his mental health by state doctors. His next court appearance is July 7.
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 06/25/2010