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Circuit split · criminal procedure

Whether a court of appeals must reverse automatically, or instead require a showing of prejudice, when a district court decides a Criminal Justice Act request for expert-services funds without holding an ex parte hearing.

1 federal appellate case on this question, each acknowledging the disagreement in its own words.

  1. United States v. Robinson95 F3D 1153

    Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals · August 27, 1996

    “There is a circuit split about whether, when a district court entertains a request for funds to hire an expert under the CJA without an ex parte hearing, a court of appeals will reverse that determination automatically, or first require a showing of prejudice.” — Acknowledges a circuit split
    Empirical analysis of this case →

The provision at issue

18 U.S.C. § 3006A — Adequate representation of defendants
“(a) Choice of Plan.— Each United States district court, with the approval of the judicial council of the circuit, shall place in operation throughout the district a plan for furnishing representation for any person financially unable to obtain adequate representation in accordance with this section. Representation under each plan shall include counsel and investigative, expert, and other services necessary for adequate representation. Each plan shall provide the following: (1) Representation shall be provided for any financially eligible …”
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The other side of the split

Decisions the acknowledging court(s) named as the opposing or joined side, quoted in the acknowledging opinion's own words.

What the split turns on

Statutes:
18 U.S.C. § 3006A(e)(1)

Cases are grouped by the legal question they announce a split on, classified from the court's own acknowledgment sentence. Verified acknowledgments only. Counter-side decisions are extracted from the acknowledging opinions' own text and linked only when the citation resolves in this corpus. See all circuit splits.