Frank Ruiz (1L)
Law Offices of the Public Defender, County of Riverside
Riverside County, CA
Frank is working for the Riverside County Office of the Public Defender. He was raised in Riverside, California and attended the University of California, Riverside for a semester prior to beginning law school. Frank wants to give back to my community by connecting with those who cannot afford private representation. RCPD provides public defense assistance in felony, misdemeanor, juvenile, and certain civil cases. He currently works in the courtroom hearing misdemeanor arraignments, completing probation terms paperwork, negotiating DA offers, and has has the opportunity to translate for his supervising attorney with an in-custody client. Frank is currently the Student Bar Associations Washington State Bar Associations Student Representative. He is actively involved with the Latino Bar Association of Washington, volunteering at the monthly clinics doing intake for primarily Spanish speaking clients looking for free legal advice.
August 1, 2011
Bad Wrap for Public Defender
If the law office of the public defender had a yelp review, there would without a doubt be thousands of negative reviews. Angry Birds has been downloaded over a million times, and has thousands of 1 star reviews on Itunes. When you work with such a high volume of clients, there is without of a doubt a number of clients who will be disappointed. In my time this summer with the Public Defenders office I have had the opportunity to see firsthand what it takes to be a public defender, and why it is that they get such a bad rap. Frustrated clients commonly refer to their public defender as a "dump truck" or their "public pretender," but the truth is that some of these are attorneys are the very best lawyers in the county when it comes to trial experience. What other private criminal defense attorney is going to get at least 6 to10 trials in there first year? There are some amazing public defenders, but as with any job with numerous employees, there are some good and some bad.
First, the public defenders office has been dramatically affected by the budget crisis in Riverside County. The PD's office is staffed with only 4 investigators, only one of whom speaks fluent Spanish. The summer of 2011, Riverside County received only 7 intern law clerks, only 4 of which were fulltime. Budget cuts have brought hiring to a halt, and salary increases to a freeze.
Second, the public defenders office extremely overwhelmed. Felony trial attorneys handle over 18 cases at one time. In is common for felony trial attorneys to have to handle cases back to back for several weeks in a row. Misdemeanor attorneys handle on average 50 clients per week, helping them through the arraignment process, as well as taking the clients who wish to plead not guilty to trial. In addition to their assigned cases, they handle all those clients who sign up for their help on the day of their arraignment, as wells as those who have not signed up but the judge insists that they should speak with council. Needless to say that the public defenders work is never done.
Does this ugly combination necessarily equal a recipe for disaster? Absolutely not! For being on the lower end of the attorney pay spectrum, many of the attorneys who work for the PD's office come from amazing top 100 schools. Indigent defense is what excites them, and going to trial is an amazing experience. Because PD's are stretched to their limits does not mean that you are not getting the best attorney possible. While cases may take longer to resolve because the PD's office is limited on resources, no areas are left unresolved in the investigation. I had an amazing opportunity to sit through an entire felony trial where an older man was accused of robbery, rape, and kidnapping. After a long 7 days of trial, I watched a jury find an innocent man not guilty on four alleged counts. I watched the defense attorney cry after her closing arguments, because she knew how much this meant to her client. It was at that time that I realized how much this job mean to not only the attorneys but their clients.
My time inside of the misdemeanor courtroom has also allowed me to see the nastier side of what it means to be a private council. I see what is often called the DUI scam. This is where a private defense council puts up advertisements that offers flat rate DUI defense for only $700. This is damaging to other private attorneys because it lowers the average cost for a typical DUI representation which usually costs somewhere over $1,500. Second, what the client doesn't know is that the $700 only gets you representation through the arraignment and plea. If you were to decide to plead not guilty and go to trial, the cost of the attorneys' fees would increase by several thousand dollars. It's a scam because the State is very strict on DUI's. No private council can work with the DA to get a first time DUI charge reduced, the terms for a standard first time DUI are set in stone. Many clients show up for arraignment without council and receive the exact same deal. In the event that the client does want to fight there DUI charge, the private council almost always asks to be relieved by the court so that the public defender can take over due to the clients inability to pay the private councils trial fee. This type of scam make private council seem affordable to unsuspecting clients. The same set up is used for a variety of misdemeanor charges including shoplifting, pot possession, and other alcohol related offenses.
In my ten weeks with the public defender's office I have been able to experience many different things. Public defenders are a misunderstood group of attorneys. Riverside County PD's office is on the exact same pay scale as the district attorney's office. I have heard clients say "how long do you have to do this until you can become a DA?" There is little public awareness out there to how effective a public defender can be. Many news breaking cases where a PD has been appointed are those that are difficult to win because so much evidence has been gathered against the defendant. I have come to the understanding that not everyone who we help is innocent, but it is our job to make sure that no client is overcharged or denied their fair day in court.
June 29, 2011
This summer I have the pleasure of working with the Office of the Public Defender in Riverside County California. During these first 5 weeks of my internship I have had an amazing opportunity being thrown directly into the courtroom. While working under a supervising attorney, I have the opportunity of working with clients from start to finish dealing with misdemeanor arraignments. 90% of those who are in the courtroom for a misdemeanor arraignment are not in-custody, while 10% are being held in custody or will be remanded into custody each day.
My actual client interaction consists of going through the court case prints to see what has previously been recorded in the minutes; approaching the DA for the initial discovery; going through the discovery, summarizing the alleged facts of the police report; and reading the clients rap sheet to determine whether or not any priors would hinder our ability to negotiate a plea with the DA. After reading the necessary client documents, I am able to approach the DA and ask for an initial offer. With offer in hand, I can speak with the client and go over the alleged facts of the case. I am fortunate that being in the courtroom allows me to have a significant amount of contact with clients each day. That being said, each day is different and personalities are never the same.
One of the toughest parts of being a PD is being able to keep your client focused. Many clients want to let you know there life story and it is important to keep the client focused and to relay only those details that are significant to the case. Clients are scared, this may be their first DUI, or they may not speak very good English and keeping your client calm and succinct is a very valuable tool. Similarly, many of the Mexican immigrants who are arrested and brought into court are unwilling to fight their cases and take them to trial. In a number of cases where the client's case contains a police report that is very suspicious, the PD has informed the client that there is a high likelihood that they can get the case dismissed. An overwhelming amount of the Spanish only speaking clients are unwilling to take their cases to trial and accepted whatever initial DA offer has been presented. There is a deep rooted barrier between the Hispanic community and access to and belief in a fundamental fairness in the law.
Sullivan Hall