or the State of Georgia is responsible for the payment of said court reporters' fees in connection with" these cases. Consequently, the court directed that the rule nisi be served on the various entities concerned and directed them to show cause "why one or more of them should not be jointly or severally liable for the payment of the transcripts in the captioned cases and for subsequent cases of similar nature." The Council was one of the entities served. Thereafter, Grady County moved to intervene in the action, and this motion was later granted.
The Council responded to the rule nisi with a letter brief and a proposed order. The letter brief argued the Council's position that the Council was not "fiscally responsible for the payment of transcript coststhe transcripts.
After a hearing, the trial court recited in its order that it considered the parties listed in its order to be parties to the actions. Among the parties listed were the district attorney for the South Georgia Judicial Circuit, the county attorneys for Decatur and Grady Counties, the Decatur County administrator, a representative of the Attorney General of Georgia, the Council, the circuit public defender, and two conflict defense attorneys. The trial court also recited that
[t]his issue was precipitated by request for transcripts by two criminal defendants acting through their attorney hired/appointed by the Georgia Public Defender Standards Council (Standards Council) or by the Chief Public Defender of the South Georgia Judicial Circuit. It was agreed and stipulated by all parties that said attorneys were not appointed