BACK STORY
THE SIXTH AMENDMENT IN NEVADA
BY KARIN L. KREIZENBECK, NEVADA STATE PUBLIC DEFENDER
Nevada has a rich history of providing access
to legal representation to persons charged
with criminal offenses, regardless of income.
Long before the U. S. Supreme Court ruled
in Gideon v. Wainwright that all states must
provide competent representation to poor
people facing felony charges in state court,
Nevada addressed the issue.1
In fact, many believe Nevada was the first state
in the union to approve appointment and payment of
counsel in all criminal matters.
In 1873, Sheperd Wixom was arrested in Battle
Mountain, for being in possession of a stolen coat - a
felony at the time. At his arraignment on January 7,
1874, after entering a not-guilty plea, Wixom stated,
“Defendant objects to the time of trial and to the legality
of his being tried without counsel.”2
When no attorney stepped forward to handle his
case, Wixom’s objections were overruled. He was forced
to proceed to trial five days later with only the assistance
of a non-lawyer who volunteered his services. Wixom
was swiftly convicted and sentenced to prison.3
Wixom filed a Writ of Certiorari asking the Nevada
Supreme Court to review the district court proceedings.
The court refused to grant Wixom’s writ, finding that the
district court did not exceed its jurisdiction by denying
Wixom an attorney, because there was no law in Nevada
that expressly required a district court judge to appoint
an attorney to an indigent defendant.4
Though the court found itself unable to provide
Wixom with any relief, it did send a clear message in
its ruling. The court referenced a statute, Assembly
Bill 122, passed by the Nevada Legislature in 1875,
after Wixom had been tried and convicted, that made
provision for the compensation of attorneys appointed
to defend indigent defendants. In an opinion by Justice
William H. Beatty, the court stated that “[p]robably
since this statute, if not before, a failure to assign
professional counsel for a poor defendant would be
deemed a fatal error on appeal.”5
Although the right to counsel for indigent criminal
defendants was not codified in Nevada until 1909,
the Nevada Supreme Court was recognizing it as
early as 1877. Today, the state of Nevada maintains
its strong commitment to ensuring equal access to
46 Nevada Lawyer
October 2015
justice for all Nevadans, regardless of income. In
2007, the Nevada Supreme Court created the Indigent
Defense Commission (IDC), to examine and make
recommendations regarding the delivery of indigent
defense services in Nevada.
Under the leadership of Nevada Supreme Court
Justice Michael Cherry, defense counsel, district
attorneys, judges and county commissioners worked
together with the IDC to create performance standards
for those providing indigent defense in Nevada’s rural
counties. The Nevada Supreme Court made history on
July 23, 2015, when it adopted three recommendations
made by the IDC in its Rural Subcommittee Report,
dated October 24, 2014.
Nevada Supreme Court Order ADKT 0411 bans
the use of strictly flat-fee contracts in the delivery of
indigent defense services. ADKT 0411 also orders that
the Nevada State Public Defender’s Office handle all
death penalty cases and appeals in the rural counties,
except that the counties may provide counsel on a
non-contract fee basis. Finally, the court adopted the
recommendation that the Indigent Defense Commission
provide legislative support to the Nevada State Public
Defender’s Office and that the counties rebalance the
costs of indigent defense back to the state and away
from the rural counties.6
1. Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).
2. Reclaiming Justice: Understanding the History of the Right
to Counsel in Nevada so as to Ensure Equal Access to
Justice in the Future, Sixth Amendment Center (2013),
http://sixthamendment.org/reclaiming-justice_03201.
3. Id. p 13.
4. In Re Wixom, 12 Nev. 219 (1877).
5. Id. p 224.
6. In the Matter of the Review of Issues Concerning
Representation of Indigent Defendants in Criminal and
Juvenile Delinquency Cases, ADTK 0411.
Governor Brian Sandoval appointed KARIN
KREIZENBECK as Nevada State Public Defender in
2013, and reappointed her in 2015. Kreizenbeck is a
member of the Nevada Supreme Court’s Commission
on Indigent Defense, and of the Rural Subcommittee
that provided the Nevada Supreme Court with the report
that led to the issuance of ADKT 0411. She serves
as the public defender representative for the Western
Regional Drug Court and Mental Health Court Programs
in Carson City, and also maintains a criminal caseload.