Study Says New DA Policy May Cost $303,000 a Year

The district attorney’s insistence that plea bargaining in felony cases occur only in open court may force Orange County to add six deputy marshals at an annual cost of more than $300,000, according to a county report.

The report by the County Administrative Office said the additional marshals may be needed for security because more courtrooms are being used for criminal, rather than civil, cases since the policy was announced last October.

The report, which the Board of Supervisors will consider Tuesday, said the new personnel were “urgently needed” to staff courts and perform other functions throughout the county even before the plea-bargain policy took effect.

Now, however, instead of being dispersed to Municipal and Superior courts throughout the county or assigned to serving warrants, they would be used, at least temporarily, in courts converted from civil to criminal use.

Could Be Deployed

“On an interim basis, the recommended . . . positions will be deployed to the Superior Court criminal trial courtrooms, to address the current increased numbers of civil litigation courtrooms being utilized for criminal trial proceedings,” the report said.

If the use of civil courtrooms for criminal trials continues for “an extended period,” all six marshals would wind up staying in Superior Court positions, the report said. If not, they could be deployed to courts throughout the county, where the report indicated they are “urgently needed.”

According to the county staff report, the annual cost of the new positions would be $303,695.

Dist. Atty. Cecil Hicks’ new policy bars prosecutors from discussing settlement of felony criminal cases--known as plea bargaining--in a judge’s chambers. Instead, the discussions must be held in open court. Felonies are tried in Superior Court.

Forced Into Trial

Some defense lawyers have contended that they cannot ethically discuss a settlement of charges against their clients in open court and would be forced to insist on going to trial.

To cope with the increased number of trials scheduled--83 on one recent day in Superior Court--judges who normally hear civil cases have been switched to criminal cases.

Attorneys who have waited three years or more for a civil case to go to trial, and have now been told that no judges are available because of reassignments to criminal court, have also complained about the plea-bargaining policy.