Reputation Restored After Almost 20 Years

They say that justice delayed is justice denied. But it’s better than nothing. Certainly that’s the case for San Diego civil liberties attorney Alex Landon, who stood falsely accused of aiding in a Chino prison break for almost 20 years.

The charges were used as a political stink bomb by then-Assemblyman Larry Stirling during the 1988 debate on whether to award a $40-million contract for indigent defense to the nonprofit organization Landon headed or to establish an in-house public defenders office. It’s still unclear whether Stirling, now a Municipal Court judge, had a personal beef with Landon or whether he preferred that the county adopt the in-house option. He insists he was was motivated by neither.

Regardless, he raised the accusations roughly 15 years after the San Bernardino district attorney’s office and the California State Bar closed their investigations without action. That robbed Landon’s organization of the contract, even though a blue ribbon commission had recommended approval.

Ultimately, the Board of Supervisors went with the in-house option. And, like most county agencies, the public defenders office is going broke. Now, the cash-starved county may be forced to pay millions of dollars to private attorneys to pick up the slack.

There is no guarantee Landon’s group would have fared any better. But with the debate sidetracked on those old charges against Landon--accepted as gospel by the Department of Corrections and given a false air of credibility by Stirling--that option was never fully aired.

Now, Landon has won a civil suit against the Department of Corrections, restoring his right to visit clients in state prisons and effectively restoring his name. Landon has thrived as a defense attorney despite the two-decade ban, so the ruling may have little practical impact on his day-to-day practice.

But clearing Landon’s name was long overdue. And at least now he is free to visit one of his better-known clients, David Allen Lucas, now on Death Row at San Quentin for three San Diego murders.

Better late than never, sure. But it would have been better still if this episode of character assassination had never occurred at all.