The State Public Defender Office has adopted a policy for what level of experience public defense attorneys should have to represent an indigent client in a capital case – where someone is charged with a crime that could be punished by the death penalty in Idaho.

The SPD followed the American Bar Association (ABA) and National Legal Aid and Defender Association (NLADA) guidelines to create the policy. Anyone interested in learning more can review our policy here.

The SPD is currently accepting applications from our attorneys and contractors who want to get training so they can be assigned to a capital case.

We are often asked what happened to the Public Defense Commission’s “capital-qualified” attorney list. That list – and organization – no longer exist.

The State Public Defender (SPD) took over all public defense in Idaho on Oct. 1, 2024.

Since that day, identifying and assigning public defenders to a capital case is up to State Public Defender Eric Fredericksen and agency administration. The new policy provides details about what our agency is looking for in attorneys to represent someone charged with a capital crime.

There is no need for a public “capital-qualified” roster anymore because judges don’t make public defense assignments. The old PDC roster was a resource for the counties and courts but it isn’t needed anymore.

We are confident we have several attorneys currently working for the SPD (both employees and contractors) who are capable of handling capital cases.   Our agency is actively working to identify and train those attorneys.