CJA Information

General Information

The plan for the implementation of the Criminal Justice Act of 1964 as Amended provides that a panel of private attorneys who are eligible and willing to be appointed to provide representation be maintained by the Clerk of Court. The list of attorneys on the panel is maintained by the Clerk of Court with copies furnished to the district judges and magistrate judges. For more information consult the CJA Plan .

Instructions

The attached manuals were prepared by the Office of the Federal Defender to help CJA panel attorneys in the District of Minnesota understand their obligations and rights under the Criminal Justice Act and be familiar with the rules. The contents of these manuals are intended solely as a guide. They refer to sections of the Guide to Judiciary Policies and Procedures (available at www.uscourts.gov/defenderservices.) the Criminal Justice Act (18 U.S.C. §3006A) and other applicable statutory provisions. Those sources are updated on an ongoing basis and will therefore prompt revisions of these manuals. In the event of a contradiction between these manuals and the statutory authority or other appropriate regulating authority pertaining to CJA issues, CJA attorneys are instructed to contact the Federal Defender's Office-MN or the Office of Defender Services (ODS) before taking action pursuant to that provision.

Most of these links require Adobe Acrobat Reader to use. This is a free product available from www.adobe.com . The wpd (Word Perfect) and doc (MS Word) links are versions of the documents you can download.

Changes Noted Above:

The instructions were updated to reflect the change in the mileage rate effective 1/1/2013 to $.565 per mile.

The CJA Form 21 Instructions were updated to reflect the following important clarification: Prior authorization from the Court is required to hire experts for non-capital cases if the services will exceed $800 per case. This limitation is per CASE and not per EXPERT.

The National CJA Voucher Reference Tool contains forms, rules and instructions on CJA matters.
www.uscourts.gov or http://www.uscourts.gov/uscourts/cjaort/topics.html

Forms

It is important for you to understand your obligation and rights under the Criminal Justice Act and be familiar with the rules that must be followed as you spend money for services other than your own. Please read the Public Disclosure of Attorney Fee Information before completing the forms below.

Your requests concerning subpoenaing of witnesses and expert witnesses are entitled to be kept under seal from the attorney for the United States and to be heard ex parte by the District Court or U.S. Magistrate Judge. Requests for blank CJA forms for transcripts (CJA 24) and experts (CJA 21) should be directed to the Federal Defender's Office, (612) 664-5858 or 5859.