Pen. Code, § 1240 · Chapter 1. Appeals, When Allowed and How Taken, and the Effect Thereof
Pen. Code, § 1240
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) When in a proceeding falling within the provisions of Section 15421 of the Government Code a person is not represented by a public defender acting pursuant to Section 27706 of the Government Code or other counsel and he is unable to afford the services of counsel, the court shall appoint the State Public Defender to represent the person except as follows:
(1) The court shall appoint counsel other than the State Public Defender when the State Public Defender has refused to represent the person because of conflict of interest or other reason.
(2) The court may, in its discretion, appoint either the State Public Defender or the attorney who represented the person at his trial when the person requests the latter to represent him on appeal and the attorney consents to the appointment. In unusual cases, where good cause exists, the court may appoint any other attorney.
(3) A court may appoint a county public defender, private attorney, or nonprofit corporation with which the State Public Defender has contracted to furnish defense services pursuant to Government Code Section 15402.
(4) When a judgment of death has been rendered the Supreme Court may, in its discretion, appoint counsel other than the State Public Defender or the attorney who represented the person at trial.
(b) If counsel other than the State Public Defender is appointed pursuant to this section, he may exercise the same authority as the State Public Defender pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 15420) of Part 7 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 1975, Ch. 1125.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=1240.
- Text hash
- sha256 80ab46bf86a30adaea9551f7aa4a7104dd5a47bfb64aacf979515d6ea31cf522
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
This section cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 15402Printed as Government Code Section 15402
- Gov. Code, tit. 2, div. 3, pt. 7, ch. 2Duties and PowersPrinted as Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 15420) of Part 7 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 15421Printed as Section 15421 of the Government Code
- Gov. Code, § 27706Printed as Section 27706 of the Government Code
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.