Court Appeal

My attention has just been called to a recent letter (Jan. 18) by Deputy Dist. Atty. Paul Rugnetta. Rugnetta complains that the Office of the State Public Defender has squandered taxpayer money by raising on appeal the single contention that our client received a prison sentence that was three days too long.

Parenthetically, I would note that three hours let alone three days of unlawful and undeserved time in prison constitutes a miscarriage of justice.

Under our justice system, a person convicted of a crime has a statutory and constitutional right to have an appeal court review his case to determine that he or she had a fair trial and received a lawful sentence. When an appeal court appoints this agency to represent an indigent person, we have an ethical obligation to review the record, explore all potential issues, but raise only arguable and not frivolous issues.

After reviewing the facts and circumstances of the case, I am personally satisfied that the deputy who authorized the appellant’s brief acted pursuant to her professional responsibilities.

The state public defender’s office did its job well and responsibly and corrected an injustice.

HARVEY R. ZALL

State Public Defender

Sacramento