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| Public Act 097-1003
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| HB5441 Enrolled | LRB097 17719 MRW 62933 b |
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AN ACT concerning criminal law.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The State Appellate Defender Act is amended by |
changing Section 10 as follows:
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(725 ILCS 105/10) (from Ch. 38, par. 208-10)
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Sec. 10. Powers and duties of State Appellate Defender.
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(a) The State Appellate Defender shall represent indigent |
persons on
appeal in criminal and delinquent minor proceedings, |
when appointed to do so by
a court under a Supreme Court Rule |
or law of this State.
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(b) The State Appellate Defender shall submit a budget for |
the
approval of the State Appellate Defender Commission.
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(c) The State Appellate Defender may:
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(1) maintain a panel of private attorneys available to |
serve as
counsel on a case basis;
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(2) establish programs, alone or in conjunction with |
law schools,
for the purpose of utilizing volunteer law |
students as legal assistants;
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(3) cooperate and consult with state agencies, |
professional
associations, and other groups concerning the |
causes of criminal
conduct, the rehabilitation and |
correction of persons charged with and
convicted of crime, |
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the administration of criminal justice, and, in
counties of |
less than 1,000,000 population, study, design, develop and
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implement model systems for the delivery of trial level |
defender
services, and make an annual report to the General |
Assembly;
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(4) hire investigators to provide investigative |
services to appointed counsel and county
public defenders;
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(5) (Blank.) in cases in which a death sentence is an |
authorized disposition,
provide trial counsel with legal |
assistance and the assistance of expert witnesses, |
investigators,
and mitigation specialists from funds |
appropriated to the State Appellate
Defender specifically |
for that
purpose by the General Assembly. The Office of |
State Appellate Defender shall
not be appointed to serve as |
trial counsel in capital cases;
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(5.5) provide training to county public defenders; |
(5.7) provide county public defenders with the |
assistance of expert witnesses and investigators from |
funds appropriated to the State Appellate Defender |
specifically for that purpose by the General Assembly. The |
Office of the State Appellate Defender shall not be |
appointed to act as trial counsel; |
(6) develop a Juvenile Defender Resource Center to:
(i) |
study, design, develop, and implement model systems for the |
delivery of trial level defender services for juveniles in |
the justice system; (ii) in cases in which a sentence of |
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incarceration or an adult sentence, or both, is an |
authorized disposition, provide trial counsel with legal |
advice and the assistance of expert witnesses and |
investigators from funds appropriated to the Office of the |
State Appellate Defender by the General Assembly |
specifically for that purpose; (iii) develop and provide |
training to public defenders on juvenile justice issues, |
utilizing resources including the State and local bar |
associations, the Illinois Public Defender Association, |
law schools, the Midwest Juvenile Defender Center, and pro |
bono efforts by law firms; and
(iv) make an annual report |
to the General Assembly.
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Investigators employed by the Capital Trial Assistance |
Unit and Capital Post Conviction Unit of the State Appellate |
Defender shall be authorized to
inquire
through the Illinois |
State Police or local law enforcement with the Law
Enforcement
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Agencies Data System (LEADS) under Section 2605-375 of the |
Civil Administrative
Code of Illinois to ascertain whether |
their potential witnesses have a criminal
background, |
including: (i) warrants; (ii) arrests; (iii) convictions; and |
(iv)
officer
safety information. This authorization applies |
only to information held on the
State
level and shall be used |
only to protect the personal safety of the
investigators. Any
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information that is obtained through this inquiry may not be |
disclosed by the
investigators.
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(d) (Blank.) For each State fiscal year, the State |
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Appellate Defender shall request a direct appropriation from |
the Capital Litigation Trust Fund for expenses incurred by the |
State Appellate Defender in providing assistance to trial |
attorneys under item (c)(5) of this Section and for expenses |
incurred by the State Appellate Defender in representing |
petitioners in capital cases in post-conviction proceedings |
under Article 122 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 and |
in relation to petitions filed under Section 2-1401 of the Code |
of Civil Procedure in relation to capital cases and for the |
representation of those petitioners by attorneys approved by or |
contracted with the State Appellate Defender and an |
appropriation to the State Treasurer for payments from the |
Trust Fund for the defense of cases in counties other than Cook |
County. The State Appellate Defender may appear before the
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General Assembly at other times during the State's fiscal year |
to request
supplemental appropriations from the Trust Fund to |
the State Treasurer.
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(e) The requirement for reporting to the General Assembly |
shall be
satisfied
by filing copies of the report with the |
Speaker, the Minority Leader and
the Clerk of the House of |
Representatives and the President, the Minority
Leader and the |
Secretary of the Senate and the Legislative Research
Unit, as |
required by Section 3.1 of the General Assembly Organization
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Act and filing such additional copies with the State Government |
Report
Distribution Center for
the General Assembly as is |
required under paragraph (t) of Section 7 of the
State Library |
