A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to authorize the office of indigent defense services to compensate attorneys for filing certiorari petitions and oppositions in the united states supreme court in capital cases and when important federal issues arise in noncapital cases.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1.  G.S. 7A‑451(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	In each of the actions and proceedings enumerated in subsection (a) of this section, entitlement to the services of counsel begins as soon as feasible after the indigent is taken into custody or service is made upon him of the charge, petition, notice or other initiating process. Entitlement continues through any critical stage of the action or proceeding, including, if applicable:
(1)	An in‑custody interrogation;
(2)	A pretrial identification procedure which occurs after formal charges have been preferred and at which the presence of the indigent is required;
(3)	A hearing for the reduction of bail, or to fix bail if bail has been earlier denied;
(4)	A probable cause hearing;
(5)	Trial and sentencing; 
(6)	Review of any judgment or decree pursuant to G.S. 7A‑27, 7A‑30(1), 7A‑30(2), and Subchapter XIV of Chapter 15A of the General  Statutes;
(7)	In a capital case in which a defendant is under a sentence of death, review of any judgment or decree rendered on direct appeal by the Supreme Court of North Carolina pursuant to the certiorari jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court; and
(8)	In a noncapital case, subject to rules adopted by the Office of Indigent Defense Services, review of any judgment or decree rendered on direct appeal by court of the North Carolina Appellate Division pursuant to the certiorari jurisdiction of the United States Supremes Court, when the judgment or decree:
a.	Decides an important question of federal law in a way that conflicts with relevant decisions of the United States Supreme Court, a federal Court of Appeals, or the court of last resort of another state;
b.	Decides an important question of federal law that has not been, but should be, settled by the United States Supreme Court; or
c.	Decides a question of federal law in the indigent's favor and the judgment or decree is challenged by opposing counsel through an attempt to invoke the certiorari jurisdiction of the United States Supreme Court."
SECTION 2.  G.S. 7A‑498.8(b) reads as rewritten:
"(b)	The appellate defender shall perform such duties as may be directed by the Office of Indigent Defense Services, including:
(1)	Representing indigent persons subsequent to conviction in trial courts. The Office of Indigent Defense Services may, following consultation with the appellate defender and consistent with the resources available to the appellate defender to ensure quality criminal defense services by the appellate defender's office, assign appeals, or authorize the appellate defender to assign appeals, to a local public defender's office or to private assigned counsel.
(2)	Maintaining a clearinghouse of materials and a repository of briefs prepared by the appellate defender to be made available to private counsel representing indigents in criminal cases.
(3)	Providing continuing legal education training to assistant appellate defenders and to private counsel representing indigents in criminal cases, including capital cases, as resources are available.
(4)	Providing consulting services to attorneys representing defendants in capital cases.
(5)	Recruiting qualified members of the private bar who are willing to provide representation in State and federal death penalty postconviction proceedings.
(6)	In the appellate defender's discretion, serving as counsel of record for indigent defendants in capital cases in State court.
(6a)	In the appellate defender's discretion, serving as counsel of record for indigent defendants in the United States Supreme Court pursuant to a petition for writ of certiorari of the decision on direct appeal by a court of the North Carolina Appellate Division.
(7)	Undertaking other direct representation and consultation in capital cases pending in federal court only to the extent that such work is fully federally funded."
SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2007.