California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Diaz, E048026 (Cal. App. 2/19/2010), E048026. (Cal. App. 2010):
Defendant urges that it was improper for the trial court to impose the appointed counsel reimbursement fee in the absence of a finding that defendant had the ability to reimburse such costs. (Cf. People v. Viray (2005) 134 Cal.4th 1186, 1217-1218.) He further argues that the error cannot be deemed harmless, because there was no evidence to suggest that he in fact had such an ability, particularly in view of the trial court's express finding that he did not have the means to pay for investigation and other defense costs.
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