Título I. Disposiciones complementarias

Every registered lawyer shall belong to the Public Criminal Defense Service and shall have the obligation to provide his services, in accordance with the pertinent regulations, except in the cases of impediment established by law.

This duty is limited to the territorial scope of jurisdiction of the tribunal within which the lawyer has his professional domicile; if he practices in different districts, he shall choose in which of them he will join the Public Criminal Defense Service and shall communicate his choice within the time that it determines. If he fails to do so, the place appearing in the Bar Association roll shall be deemed to be his place of residence.

The Bar Association shall forward the corresponding list to the Supreme Court of Justice, which shall forward it to the General Directorate of the Public Criminal Defense Service for its distribution among the different sections, as appropriate.

The services rendered shall be remunerated with fifty percent of what corresponds to the attorneys' fee schedule. The Supreme Court of Justice shall pay the fees. Contracted attorneys shall not have the right to charge fees other than those provided for.

The Supreme Court of Justice shall guarantee the efficiency of the Public Criminal Defense Service and shall organize it as follows:

1)The General Directorate of the Public Criminal Defense Service.

2)The necessary sections, for which it shall have at minimum one central office per department.

The Supreme Court of Justice shall appoint the General Director of the office and the technical-administrative personnel who shall assist him. It may hire attorneys for fixed remuneration, chosen from the list that the Bar Association shall provide annually for this purpose.

The attributions of the General Directorate of the Public Criminal Defense Service are:

1)To take charge of the organization and inspection of the defense offices in the territorial districts determined by the Supreme Court of Justice.

2)To intervene in a defense office for serious deficiency in the provision of the service.

3)To distribute the list of lawyers among the different sections in accordance with that prepared by the Bar Association.

4)To resolve the inquiries submitted by the sections and to request from the Supreme Court of Justice such information as is required from the Bar Association.

5)To prepare an annual report of activities, in accordance with the information forwarded to it by the sections.

6)To approve the report of each office, or to reject it, in which case it shall give the pertinent instructions to redo it.

7)To prepare mandatory general criteria for the organization of the service.

8)To report to the Supreme Court of Justice failures in the service.

9)To establish a system of cooperation in the service for when an act of judicial assistance or an appeal must be carried out in a territorial district different from that in which the case is being processed, and

10)To propose to the Supreme Court of Justice the opening or merger of service offices.

The attributions of the Sections of the Public Criminal Defense Service are:

1)To communicate to the tribunals of its district the list of attorneys of its section so that, by strict rotation or other analogous system, court-appointed attorneys are designated.

2)To attend to urgent matters, until the attorney who is designated takes intervention in the case.

3)To facilitate performance of their function by defense attorneys.

4)To prepare an annual report on the service rendered, which they shall remit to the General Directorate of the Public Criminal Defense Service.

5)To report to said General Directorate the failures in the service.

The tribunals and the Public Prosecutor's Office shall communicate with the office of the corresponding service and shall remit thereto the respective notifications, until the defense counsel appointed for the case establishes a place to receive notifications.

Cases shall be distributed, in principle, among the members of a list of volunteers, which the Bar Association shall prepare for such purpose and which it shall periodically communicate to the Supreme Court of Justice. The list shall remain continuously open for registration.

For registration on the list, the following is required:

1)One year of professional practice, or in judicial functions or prosecutorial career functions requiring the title of attorney.

2)Proof of experience in criminal matters.

The Bar Association may condition entry on the list of volunteers, or continued inclusion therein, on attendance at and passing of the courses it schedules or designates.

Attorneys who do not meet the established requirements may register on a list of auxiliaries, to collaborate in the defense with the principal defense counsel.

They shall always act under his direction and may not intervene autonomously in the trial.

In the absence of the list or when, by reason of the efficiency of the service, the case cannot be entrusted to any member of the list of volunteers, a member of the register of active lawyers registered in the Bar Association, residing at the seat of the tribunal, shall be designated. Failing that, the General Directorate of the Public Criminal Defense Service shall provide the appointment of a specific defense counsel.

If the court-appointed defense counsel is removed or abandons the defense, the tribunal shall immediately proceed to substitute him.

The appointed defense counsel may not refuse the provision of his service, unless he reliably proves that he is in one of the following cases:

1)Insurmountable physical impediment.

2)Being over fifty years of age; and

3)Conflicting interest or absolute incompatibility with his assisted person.

The assisted person may only request the substitution of the designated defense counsel, arguing:

1)Manifest lack of suitability to handle the case.

2)Serious negligence, carelessness or gross ignorance in the provision of the service, and

3)Conflicting interest or absolute incompatibility with the designated defense counsel.

The Presidency of the Judicial Branch may enter into agreements with the Bar Association, with associations of lawyers or private lawyers for the efficient provision of the service.

The attorney of the Public Criminal Defense Service shall collect the fees, judicially regulated, from the convicted person ordered to pay costs or from his own client, the beneficiary of the service, unless the latter lacks sufficient economic means for his subsistence and the support of his family, and for as long as his state of poverty lasts. In the latter case, defense counsel shall be paid immediately in accordance with the special fee schedule established by the Treasury of the Judicial Branch.

In the other cases, the attorney may request that the amount resulting from the established special fee schedule be advanced to him. He shall return such amount once payment of his judicial fees has been obtained.

The Public Criminal Defense Service shall be subrogated to the attorney in all rights to the regulated judicial fees, up to covering the scheduled amount it paid him.

The attorney who handled the case shall have the duty to secure and defend the fees, and to pursue collection, judicially or extrajudicially, unless the Public Criminal Defense Service directly assumes execution. Once payment is obtained, said Service shall receive the corresponding aliquot share.

Where necessary, the Public Criminal Defense Service Section shall approve the assistance of technical consultants, upon proposal by the appointed defense counsel, and shall bear the expenses required by their involvement.

Extraordinary expenses shall likewise be approved.

In each office of the Public Criminal Defense Service a list of interpreters of the different indigenous languages and dialects shall be prepared, who shall be assigned to the cases handled by the Service, where applicable. The Supreme Court of Justice shall establish a special fee schedule.

The Law Faculties of the universities that organize popular law offices for the instruction of their students may request admission to the Public Criminal Defense Service from the General Directorate. The request shall mention the number of cases that the office intends to handle within the time limit of one year and the lawyers that it will assign thereto.

The General Directorate of the Public Criminal Defense Service shall decide on admission and on the number of cases to be assigned to each office.

The popular law office shall have the same functions as a section of the Service and shall perform them analogously. The person designated as director of the popular law office must be a lawyer and shall be responsible for its proper functioning and shall transmit the reports and memoranda provided for. The University shall assume the financial support of the law office, in accordance with its own regime, and the Public Criminal Defense Service shall be exempt from payment of fees.

The General Directorate of the Public Criminal Defense Service shall approve or reject the report, and may remove the popular law office when it verifies significant deficiencies in the service.

Students may not autonomously assume the task of defense counsel and shall only perform ancillary collaboration functions, and may not substitute for the lawyers they assist in acts inherent to their function. They shall be permitted to accompany them at acts and debates, without intervening therein.