NebAPP allows appointed counsel for county court conviction up to District Court and no further

Indigent defendant is entitled to court appointed counsel or the public defender through first level of appeal and no further; in case of county court cases, the first appeal allowing court appointed counsel is the District Court. State v. Hughan, 13 Neb. App. 862 8-30-2005. No. A-05-039. The Nebraska Constitution and US Constitution provide free counsel for first level appeal, but no further In Douglas v. California, 372 U.S. 353, 83 S. Ct. 814, 9 L. Ed. 2d 811 (1963), the U.S. Supreme Court held that in first appeals as of right, states must appoint counsel to represent indigent defendants. Douglas however does not extend to discretionary appeals. Douglas did not extend to discretionary appeals to a state’s highest court. Ross v. Moffitt, 417 U.S. 600, 94 S. Ct. 2437, 41 L. Ed. 2d 341 (1974). Neb. Rev. Stat. § 25-2728 (Cum. Supp. 2002) confers upon a defendant in a criminal case the right to appeal from the final judgment of the county court to the district court of the county where the county court is located; the district court acts as an intermediate appellate court, rather than as a trial court. Neb. Const. art. I, § 23, confers the right to appeal to the Nebraska Court of Appeals or to the Nebraska Supreme Court, as provided by the Legislature. The right to appointed counsel extends to the first appeal as of right, and no further, agreeing with the Ohio case State v. Buell, 70 Ohio St. 3d 1211, 639 N.E.2d 110 (1994)that holds appointed counsel shall handle the first level of direct appeal, even though the courts have higher levels of review available.