Tran

Thai Bao Tran petitioned for a writ of mandate to compel the superior court to grant his request for ancillary funding for his capital murder case. We originally denied the petition summarily. Tran petitioned the Supreme Court for review, which that court granted. The Supreme Court ordered us to consider the petition on its merits, and we have complied.

Tran contends the trial court abused its discretion by denying him funding on the ground his retained counsel has adequate funds from the fee agreement to pay for those services. We grant the writ.

Tran was charged with capital murder, and his mother hired an attorney to represent him. After he was held to answer on the charge and the attorney was unsuccessful in an attempt to convince the district attorney to forgo the death penalty, the mother hired his present attorney, Leslie H. Abramson, to replace the first lawyer.

Abramson’s fee of $300,000, as reflected in a written agreement between her and Tran’s mother, included her services and those of second counsel through a first trial of the matter including the penalty phase. In the agreement, Abramson agreed to seek funds from the superior court for expert and…