Legal Question in Constitutional Law in Arizona

Re: Public Defense?

Yes. Anyone within the country who is charged with a crime is entitled to legal counsel, and the public defender if private counsel is not affordable.

Re: Public Defense?

I'm not sure if Mr. Aspinwall read your question correctly. The way I read it, you are asking if the non-citizen lawyer can represent the defendant as his public defender.

The answer is that defense lawyers do not have to be citizens, and most jurisdictions will hire non-citizens with green cards to work as public defenders. However, defendants do not usually get to choose their own public defender. A defendant generally cannot pick an attorney and ask the government to pay his fees. Instead, the government employs a group of full-time public defenders and one of them will be assigned to represent the defendant.