23A-14-3.(Rule 17(b)) Subpoenas for indigent defendant--Payment of costs.
If a defendant has received court appointed counsel pursuant to chapter 23A-40, the court shall order at any time that a subpoena be issued upon the application of the defendant to the court. The defendant must state that he is financially unable to pay the fees of the witness and that the presence of the witness is necessary to an adequate defense. If the court orders the subpoena to be issued, the costs incurred by the process and the fees of the witness so subpoenaed by the process shall be paid in the same manner in which similar costs and fees are paid in the case of a witness subpoenaed in behalf of the state. Such motion may be made ex parte.
Source: SL 1978, ch 178, §179.