WHEREAS, pursuant to Florida law, the Office of Criminal Conflict and Civil Regional Counsel, First District (hereinafter RCC1) is to be appointed on all conflict cases, civil and criminal, within the Third Judicial Circuit effective January 1, 2008; and

WHEREAS, RCC1 has notified this court through the attached documents of its inability to become fully operational and that it is only able to handle Certain criminal conflict cases in Dixie County and Lafayette County of the Third Judicial Circuit and that an order has been entered in Leon County Circuit Court enjoining RCC1 from accepting new cases and RCC1 asks this Court to grant its omnibus motion to withdraw; and

WHEREAS, the interest of justice and due process require that this court insure the continued appointment of alternative counsel to assist the indigent citizens of the Third Judicial Circuit, it is hereby 

ORDERED:

1. This Court finds that the RCC1 is not sufficiently operational to handle divisions and cases within the Third Judicial Circuit (other than those cases noted above and for which appointments have been made). In those cases in which the Public Defender is granted leave to withdraw from a case because of a conflict; therefore, the Omnibus motion to withdraw filed by the RCC1 is GRANTED.
2. The RCC1’s omnibus motion for leave to withdraw applies to all cases for which RCC1 has been appointed since January 1, 2008 (with the exception of those cases noted above). Further, based upon the ruling in FACDL v. Gov. Charlie Crist, et. al., which lifted the stay and which presently enjoins Regional Counsels from accepting any new cases, the court finds that RCC1 is unavailable, or has a “conflict”, so as to require appointment of attorneys from the registry of attorneys as provided by law. Therefore, in all cases where RCC1 has been appointed since January 1, 2008 (except as noted above), and all cases in which the RCC1 will be appointed pursuant to statutory requirement subsequent to this order, the court shall appoint qualified counsel from the registry of conflict attorneys maintained in this circuit for this purpose. [The undersigned Chief Judge recognizes the statutory authority requiring appointment of the RCC1 in various types of cases under various sections of the law. The undersigned recognizes that continued appointment of the RCC1 may be required under existing law. In those cases, after the appointment of the RCC1, a copy of this order with the attachment shall be placed in the file and shall serve as the record order of withdrawal. Subsequent to the withdrawal of the RCC1, the procedure set forth in Paragraph 3 herein shall be followed.]
3. Until further notice by this Court, the Clerk of Court in each county within the Third Judicial Circuit and the Judges of each court within the Third Judicial Circuit will continue the appointment process of conflict counsel through the use of the existing Attorney Registry Lists or to the applicable division conflict counsel in those divisions where division conflict counsel is currently assigned.

DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at Lake City, Columbia County, Florida, on this 14th day of January 2008, nunc pro tunc January 1, 2008.

/Signed/________________________