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Eligibility for Legal Services


The Office of the Public Defender will provide legal services to any person who is financially unable to obtain a private attorney according to the indigency guidelines, and:

  1. who has been arrested for, charged with, or convicted of an offense or offenses punishable by imprisonment;

  2. who has been arrested for or charged with a law or ordinance violation for which such person may be or is subject to the provisions of Chapter 571, Hawai`i Revised Statutes (under which a minor may be adjudicated a law violator);

  3. whose probations or parole may be revoked;

  4. whose liberty is threatened by confinement, against his or her will, in any psychiatric or other mental institution or facility;

  5. who is the subject of a petition for involuntary outpatient treatment; or

  6. who is otherwise entitled by law to be represented by legal counsel (e.g. Expedited Sentencing Program, Act 316, 1993 Session Laws).

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