Public Defender Repping Slain Florida Mayor’s Husband Trying to Withdraw From Case

There’s a bit of a legal snag after Coral Springs Vice Mayor Nancy Metayer Bowen‘s husband was charged with her murder in Florida.

Court papers were filed Monday asking the judge to “relieve the Public Defender from further representation” of Nancy’s husband, Stephen Bowen … saying it’d be a conflict of interest.

In the motion obtained by TMZ, the Broward County public defender’s office says they’re “ethically precluded” from representing Bowen because several members of their office “had both personal and professional relationships” with Nancy.

The court docs say this conflict would “violate Mr. Bowen’s rights to effective assistance of counsel, due process and a fair trial.”

Here’s what makes this extra tricky … the papers note that Bowen was declared indigent — AKA unable to afford his own lawyer — and has a constitutional right to a court-appointed attorney … so the Broward County public defender’s office was assigned to represent him since he can’t pay.

If the public defender is allowed to withdraw, it’s unclear exactly who would take on his case … although courts often appoint private attorneys and alternate public defenders in these circumstances.