District of Idaho

Financially eligible persons seeking to vacate or set aside a death sentence in proceedings under 28 U.S.C. § 2254 or 2255 are entitled to appointment of one or more qualified attorneys.  These appointments and fee amounts will be governed through General Orders.

The District of Idaho under the guidance of the Ninth Circuit Executive's Office has designed the Capital Case Budgeting forms for on-line use by court-appointed counsel in death penalty habeas cases. In the initial design process, it was found that attorneys were interested in having these new procedures as automated as possible. Therefore, we have been trying to accommodate these requests while still providing the court and the circuit with the budgeting information needed, as well as meeting the requirements of the CJA for payment purposes.

This is how the process will work;

Capital Case Management and Budget Form

The electronic forms available on our Internet, will be downloaded by the court-appointed counsel onto their own computers. The proposed budget form will be completed by counsel. These forms are designed with the Microsoft Excel 97 spreadsheet software which will be required to use them.

After the proposed budget form is completed, the form is e-mailed to a designated person in the Clerk's Office to be provided to chambers. After the court approves a budget, the electronic form will be forwarded to each attorney as their working form.

Payment and Voucher Submission

Built into the spreadsheet program is the attorney's CJA voucher and worksheets. As work is performed in the case, attorneys will complete their time and expenses in the new automated budget forms. As this is done, the CJA voucher is automatically completed and ready for submission at the end of the quarter. When the quarterly voucher is submitted to the court for payment, a refreshed CJA voucher form will appear and the budget forms updated to reflect the submitted amounts.

Training

As the program is implemented, training for court-appointed counsel and staff will be provided. Documentation for use of the automated program will also be provided, as well as "Help" prompts built into the program.

Forms

The following files are available to download for each of the phases. Save them to a PC where you can open them with MS Excel.

Death Penalty Proceedings:  Appointment of and Authority To Pay Court-Appointed Counsel

From the Official AO Forms link below, you can select a CJA 30 Form.

Death Penalty Proceedings:  Ex Parte Request For Authorization and Voucher For Expert and Other Services.

From the link below, you can select a CJA 31 Form.

For information or inquiries on filling out, submitting and general guidance on CJA Vouchers, contact the CJA Voucher Financial Specialist: