The Florida Senate

916.115  Appointment of experts.--

(1)(a)  Annually, the department shall provide the courts with a list of mental health professionals who have completed approved training as experts.

(b)  The court may appoint no more than three experts to determine issues of the mental condition of a defendant in a criminal case, including the issues of competency to proceed, insanity, and involuntary hospitalization or placement. An expert may evaluate the defendant in jail or in another appropriate local facility.

(c)  To the extent possible, an appointed expert shall have completed forensic evaluator training approved by the department and be either a psychiatrist, licensed psychologist, or physician.

(2)  Expert witnesses appointed by the court to evaluate the mental condition of a defendant in a criminal case shall be allowed reasonable fees for services rendered as evaluators of competence or sanity and as witnesses.

(a)1.  The court shall pay for any expert that it appoints by court order, upon motion of counsel for the defendant or the state or upon its own motion. If the defense or the state retains an expert and waives the confidentiality of the expert's report, the court may pay for no more than two additional experts appointed by court order. If an expert appointed by the court upon motion of counsel for the defendant specifically to evaluate the competence of the defendant to proceed also addresses in his or her evaluation issues related to sanity as an affirmative defense, the court shall pay only for that portion of the expert's fees relating to the evaluation on competency to proceed, and the balance of the fees shall be chargeable to the defense.

2.  Pursuant to s. 29.006, the office of the public defender shall pay for any expert retained by the office.

3.  Pursuant to s. 29.005, the office of the state attorney shall pay for any expert retained by the office. Notwithstanding subparagraph 1., the office of the state attorney shall pay for any expert whom the office retains and whom the office moves the court to appoint in order to ensure that the expert has access to the defendant.

4.  An expert retained by the defendant who is represented by private counsel appointed under s. 27.5303 shall be paid by the Justice Administrative Commission.

5.  An expert retained by a defendant who is indigent for costs as determined by the court and who is represented by private counsel, other than private counsel appointed under s. 27.5303, on a fee or pro bono basis, or who is representing himself or herself, shall be paid by the Justice Administrative Commission from funds specifically appropriated for these expenses.

(b)  State employees shall be paid expenses pursuant to s. 112.061

(c)  The fees shall be taxed as costs in the case.

(d)  In order for an expert to be paid for the services rendered, the expert's report and testimony must explicitly address each of the factors and follow the procedures set out in this chapter and in the Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure.

History.--s. 1, ch. 80-75; s. 5, ch. 82-176; s. 5, ch. 83-274; s. 25, ch. 84-285; s. 34, ch. 85-167; s. 18, ch. 94-154; s. 1528, ch. 97-102; s. 14, ch. 98-92; s. 58, ch. 2005-236.

Note.--Former s. 916.11.