ON APPLICATION FOR REHEARING
PER CURIAM.
REHEARING GRANTED IN PART; DENIED IN PART
We grant rehearing in part for the limited purpose of clarifying our statement regarding State v. Wigley, 624 So.2d 425 (La. 1993). In the original opinion in this case, we commented that we would not extend Wigley to require delay of a trial on the merits in order to resolve the collateral issue of compensation for defense counsel. State v. Brown, 03-0897, p. 42 (La. 4/12/05). That statement, viewed in isolation, appears to conflict with our holding just eleven days earlier in State v. Citizen, 04-1841 (La. 4/1/05). In Citizen, reviewing an interlocutory ruling made prior to trial, we held that, upon motion of the defendant prior to trial, the judge may prohibit the State from going forward with the prosecution until he or she determines that appropriate funding to cover counsel's anticipated expenses and overhead is likely to be available. What we should have made more clear in our original opinion in the instant case is that our holding in Citizen had no direct relevance to our resolution of the defendant's claims that a lack of funding denied him his due process and equal protection rights.
In the instant case, as summarized in the original opinion at pages 37-42, the defendant in advance of trial filed various motions seeking reimbursement for defense costs and a stay of all proceedings. The trial court held a hearing on the funding issue and denied the defendant's motions. But prior to trial, the trial court did authorize funds to the defense totaling $15,000.00 for expert witness and investigation fees. Unlike in Citizen, however, the defendant here did not seek supervisory writs from the trial court's pre-trial rulings, was allocated funds, and proceeded to trial. As more fully set forth in our original opinion, the defendant, now post-trial, has failed to establish any prejudice to his defense as a result of an alleged lack of funding then available to reimburse his counsel for expenses and overhead.
In all other respects, the defendant's rehearing application is denied.
JOHNSON, J., would deny the rehearing,
Although this Court should have cited State v. Citizen, 04-1841 (La. 4/1/05), 898 So.2d 325, which was released eleven days earlier, rather than State v. Wigley, 624 So.2d 425 (La. 1993) to resolve the issue of compensation for defense counsel, the result remains unchanged. Defendant, Brown, was provided the basic tools for an adequate defense. With regard to expert fees, Brown did not claim that he was denied funding, but rather that funding was not made available "soon enough" during the pretrial stages, and therefore, the trial court should have stayed the proceedings until funding was made available. However, the record indicated that the trial court authorized the defense $15,000 to secure expert services, and thus, defendant failed to demonstrate prejudice in these respects. Therefore, under the facts present in Brown, a stay of the proceedings was not necessary, as funds were made available.
Further, as to compensation of defense counsel, the record as a whole was silent as to exactly how much and from what sources defendant's attorneys were ultimately compensated. Thus, on the scant showing made, defense counsel failed to demonstrate that the funding issue raised pretrial remained unaddressed. Thus, even if Citizen had been applied, Brown's attorneys would have nevertheless been unable to stay the proceedings for lack of funding.