Appellant Court Rules on Indigency of Defendants

The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District ruled on October 31st that the Audrain County Associate Circuit Court did not err when it denied Mark Lewis’s application for the public defender’s services. The court ruled that he did not meet the state’s indigency requirements. This case may be of interest to bondsmen as part of the denial of services was because Lewis made a $50,000 bond. The Missouri Code of State Regulations state that: “If the defendant has been released on bail on any case in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000) or more, a presumption is created that the defendant is not indigent and the ability of the defendant to meet the bail must be given consideration;” The record indicates that Lewis said that “money was never exchanged between him and the bondsman.” (Lewis’s bond was posted by All State Investment Corporation which is no longer licensed with the DIFP or registered with the Secretary of State.) Lewis, who represented himself at trial, was sentenced to 30 years in prison for 1st degree child molestation. Lewis appealed the conviction based on the fact he was given no public defender and was unable to afford private counsel. The appellant court upheld the court’s decision to deny the public defender, but transferred the case to the MO Supreme Court due to its great importance and interest.