Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: general information

A conflict case is one which would ordinarily be handled by a government agency like the public defender's office, but which the agency is unable to handle due to a conflict of interests. For example, where two defendants are charged with taking part in the same crime and each has reason to argue that the other is guilty, they need independent representation. At most the public defender can represent one of them; the other needs a lawyer from outside the PD's office. Large counties often have several PD offices for this reason, but smaller counties usually have just one. Even when there are multiple PD offices it is possible for all of them to have conflicts. When this happens, a private attorney will be hired at public expense. That is the scenario your question describes.