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Show Commissioners argue for tight rein on funds for defense of accused murderer by RICK BROUGH Record staff writer The Summit County Commission and County Legal Defender Thomas Quinlan were unable to agree Wednesday on how much to pay Quinlan for his defense of accused murderer John Bryan Monson. At a Wednesday morning discussion discus-sion session, the two sides found they were at least $13,000 apart in their suggested bids. Quinlan contracted in 1984 to serve as county public defender for $14,400 a year. But the contract did not include money to handle capital homicide cases. Quinlan told the commission Summit County set a precedent last year when it paid the previous public ; defender, Ken Brown, $15,000 for his ; homicide defense of Wesley Allan Tuttle. He also said that when he conducted a "mini-survey" of other counties, he found legal defenders in Iron County were paid $25,000 and-; $30,000 for separate cases. ; A defense lawyer in Beaver was earning $75 an hour, the survey found. The commission offered to pay $2,000 for the Monson trial defense and $2,000 for an appeal if necessary. Quinlan said his expenses already come to about $1,500 if he were being paid at $50 an hour. Monson is charged with killing Phillip Kerby on Sept. 9, 1984. The body was found under a rock pile on . an LDS farm near the Weber River in Oakley on May 5. Commissioner Stan Leavitt said the Monson case shouldn't be compared to the Tuttle case. "They were not apples and apples. The commission's feeling was that the Monson case was pretty much open and shut." Quinlan responded, "It may not be as complicated (as Tuttle) but it is difficult, and almost impossible, to predict what will happen in advance." He said his case will involve an insanity defense and a motion to suppress evidence. A homicide case takes a great deal of time, he said. "The Monson case goes home with me and wakes me up in the middle of the night." Leavitt acknowledged the Monson case could become more complicated than it appears now. But the commission doesn't want to give the legal defender an open-ended open-ended contract, he said. Commissioner Cliff Blonquist said, "I don't want to sit here and be in a position to deprive someone of their rights." But it is hard to set a figure, he said. Counties have asked the legislature to fund homicide cases, he recalled, but the lawmakers refused. "We feel $15,000 is too high," said Leavitt. County Attorney Robert Adkins said the county did not have to worry about the problem in the past. During the 20-year tenure of previous Sheriff Ron Robinson, the county had two members. Now with the Tuttle and Monson cases occurring in the last two years, he said, "We've gotten more than our fair share recently." Adkins suggested that in the future, the defender's yearly flat-fee flat-fee contract would include the cost of defending homicides. Or it may include a proviso that sets a definite defin-ite amount of money for each homicide defense that may arise. |