When a defendant is entitled to a court-appointed attorney

An individual is entitled to a court-appointed attorney if they’re an indigent individual, if they don’t have any money or they are on government assistance or if they need — they are able to show some sort of financial need. A lot of times people think that if they are arrested, then they’re entitled to a — to a court-appointed attorney, and that’s not necessarily true. If they — they have to show financial need in order to get a court-appointed attorney. And it’s not just if you don’t have the money to hire the best lawyer. You’re not entitled to the best lawyer out there necessarily, you’re — but if you have the means to hire a lawyer, then you need to hire a lawyer. Most of the time judges will — if you’ve bonded out of jail, then judges will assume, and they should, that you can hire an attorney of some sort.