Judge Delays Cutback of Public Defenders’ Caseload

A North County Municipal Court judge has delayed for 30 days his order cutting back the number of cases assigned to the county public defender’s office and has withdrawn a contempt citation against one of the office’s supervising attorneys.

Judge Victor Ramirez, supervising Municipal Court judge at the Vista Courthouse, agreed in a meeting late Wednesday afternoon with public defenders to give the group a chance to prove it has enough staff members to handle its heavy caseload.

On July 27, Ramirez, angered when a public defense lawyer was not ready to go to trial because of another trial commitment, ordered that all new misdemeanor cases filed on Thursdays would be assigned to private attorneys, reducing the defender’s office misdemeanor caseload by an estimated 20%.

‘More Than Enough Staff’

Ramirez said he issued the order because he was convinced that the defender’s office was understaffed to handle either the felony or misdemeanor caseload at the North County courthouse five days a week.

Larry S. Beyersdorf, who is in charge of the Vista office, said the office has “more than enough staff to cover misdemeanor cases.”

Ramirez said he has notified other Municipal Court judges to monitor the defender’s office performance during coming weeks, evaluating promptness, readiness to proceed and case preparation.

“I hope they pass with flying colors,” Ramirez said, but added that, if they fail “to show they are doing an adequate job of representing the poor, I will reimpose my order” of once a week assigning indigent defendants to private attorneys paid from the budget of the county public defender’s office.

On Thursday, the first day Ramirez had lifted his order, “their performance was not too auspicious,” the judge said. Two of the public defenders were late, one failed to show up at all, and a defendant asked that his public defender be dismissed so he could seek a private attorney for himself, Ramirez said.

The judge said he had dropped his contempt citation against Kathleen Cannon, supervising attorney for misdemeanor cases, after receiving more information about the situation.

“If I had known at the time what I know now, I would never have cited her for contempt,” Ramirez said.

Supervisor Stepped In

The incident occurred July 25, when Ramirez ordered the defender’s office to make an attorney immediately available to defend a client charged with drunk driving. The attorney scheduled to handle the defense was unavailable, but Ramirez ordered the case to trial. Cannon, a supervisor, stepped in and explained the problem to the judge assigned to hear the case and received a continuance.

After learning that Cannon had received a continuance from another judge after being denied a continuance by him, Ramirez cited her for contempt.

Cannon said Thursday that she was not concerned for herself, “but I am concerned for the 12 young, hard-working attorneys I supervise. They are doing a good job, and that fact should be recognized.”

The defender’s office filed a writ against the North County court judges, asking that Ramirez’s order be revoked and that all cases be assigned to its office.

The writ will be withdrawn, Cannon said.