§ 5233. Extent of services

(a) A needy person who is entitled to be represented by an attorney under section 5231 of this title is entitled:

(1) to be counseled and defended at all stages of the matter beginning with the earliest time when a person providing the person's own counsel would be entitled to be represented by an attorney and including revocation of probation or parole;

(2) to be represented in any appeal; and

(3) to be represented in any other postconviction proceeding which may have more than a minimal effect on the length or conditions of detention where the attorney considers:

(A) the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions to be warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law; and

(B) the allegations and other factual contentions to have evidentiary support, or likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation and discovery.

(b) A needy person's right to a benefit under this section is not affected by having provided a similar benefit at the person's own expense, or by having waived it, at an earlier stage.