An attorney ‘will be provided’

In the United States, criminal defendants are guaranteed the right to counsel. It says so in the Sixth Amendment.

And as most people recall from the Supreme Court’s 1966 Miranda ruling — or, perhaps more likely, from watching TV cop and detective shows — if a defendant “cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided” for him.

On Wednesday, former Clark County Commissioner Lynette Boggs was in a Las Vegas courtroom to face arraignment on charges that she lied about her residency during her failed 2006 re-election bid and that she paid a nanny out of campaign funds.

Since her election loss — and recent divorce — Ms. Boggs has apparently fallen on hard financial times. In addition to losing her $68,000 job on the commission, she no longer has a $100,000-a-year gig as a consultant with a local charity.

Her former home in Summerlin went into foreclosure after the mortgage became delinquent.

So when her attorney announced in court this week that he was stepping down, Ms. Boggs played the indigent card, arguing that despite having served as an elected official for seven years — living in upscale neighborhoods, serving on the corporate board of Station Casinos and receiving at least one lucrative PR contract — she was now too poor to hire a new lawyer.

But after reviewing Ms. Boggs’ financial information, Hearing Master Kevin Williams wasn’t buying. “I can’t appoint a public defender for you,” he said. “You’re going to have to find other means to get a hold of an attorney.”

You can’t blame Ms. Boggs for trying. After all, Mary Kincaid-Chauncey, a former county commissioner now serving prison time for her role in the corruption scandal involving local topless clubs — used the “indigent” ploy successfully.

It’s bad enough that Clark County residents had to endure a governing body that for much of the early part of this decade proved a cesspool of corruption. It’s piling insult upon injury to ask they also be forced to cover the legal fees of the elected officials who betrayed them.

True, Ms. Boggs’ alleged crimes don’t rise anywhere near the level of her jailbird colleagues. But in this case, Mr. Williams got it right.