In a retrial after the convicted person has died or is irreversibly mentally disabled, who appoints defence counsel if the person who filed the retrial request has none?
General information · Not legal advice
Material to check
In a practice file we read the decision opening the retrial, the retrial request showing who filed it, the death certificate or medical record supporting death or irreversible mental disability, and any paper appointing defence counsel or the absence of one, which is one of the conditions the provision turns on, the other being that the case falls within the two situations the provision itself names.
These are types of material to look for, not evidence already verified by PRO SE.
Where readings differ
One reading ties the duty to the two situations the provision itself names: the retrial request was made for a person who has died or is irreversibly mentally disabled, or the convicted person died or became irreversibly mentally disabled before the retrial judgment. Where the person who filed the retrial request has not appointed counsel, the presiding judge must appoint one ex officio.
Another reading marks the reach of that duty: it is triggered by the retrial petitioner being without counsel in those situations, not by every retrial. The provision allows judgment without the defendant attending but not where defence counsel does not attend, and it leaves open whom the presiding judge chooses and how the appointment is recorded.
Your judgment
Where a retrial is pending after the convicted person's death, how could the file show that the person who filed the retrial request has no defence counsel of their own?
PRO SE does not make this decision or keep a case record on this public site.When to reconsider
We revisit this card if the provision is amended to change which retrial situations trigger the ex officio appointment, or if a court decision explains whom the presiding judge may appoint and how counsel's attendance is recorded.