O.C. Attorney Could Lose Pact to Defend Poor

Attorney William W. Stewart, recently criticized for his firm’s handling of criminal cases involving indigent defendants, could lose his lucrative county contract for providing legal assistance to poor people today when judges of Orange County Municipal Court’s Central District consider a reorganization plan.

Central District Presiding Judge Gregory H. Lewis said he will propose that the contract--worth $700,000 to $1 million per year--be put out for bids so that the huge caseload can be handled by as many as three law firms.

Although a year remains on Stewart’s contract to defend poor people accused of crimes, Lewis said the proposal is not related to judges’ complaints that Stewart has been “subletting” many of the cases he has been assigned to other attorneys, and spends part of his time thousands of miles away tending to an import-export business he operates in Colombia.

Lewis acknowledged that some judges in the Santa Ana-based Central District have experienced delays in getting contract defense attorneys to their courtrooms. He said the new contract plan would provide “greater coverage” in the courts.

Stewart, who has held his county contract for 15 years, said he would not fight Lewis’ proposal and planned to be one of the bidders should the jurists decide in favor of the reorganization.

At the same time, the Santa Ana-based attorney denounced the criticisms leveled against him by Municipal Judges Margaret R. Anderson and Pamela L. Iles, calling them “idiots from other courts” who are pursuing personal “agendas.”

Iles, of the South District court in Laguna Niguel, could not be reached for comment Tuesday. But Anderson, of the Harbor District court in Newport Beach, fired back at Stewart. She said his comment, in the words of Shakespeare, was a “tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Anderson and Iles, both members of a county advisory committee examining the defense of indigents, have said that Stewart has been allowed to tend to his South American lobster and flower businesses by farming out hundreds of cases to other criminal lawyers who share in the annual fees.

Stewart has said that he has not appeared in court very often during the past four years, and court officials confirm that the attorney sometimes communicates with the county court system by telephone or fax from Colombia.

Tuesday, Stewart acknowledged that the press of outside business has been a factor in his decision to go along with the planned contract change. He said that some judges have been planning the changes for months, and that the proposal should not be interpreted as linked to the concerns expressed by Anderson and Iles.

Stewart also said the reorganization had nothing to do with bankruptcy papers filed by his real estate firm, which owns downtown Santa Ana property, including the building housing his law office.

“A lot of lawyers would like to have the contract I’ve had,” Stewart said Tuesday. “I’m used to taking shots from lawyers. It’s nothing new. I have worked well with the court for a number of years. I would hope to be a major part of any reorganization.”

Still, county officials who were to launch a review of Stewart’s operations based on the concerns of Anderson and Iles said they were surprised that any changes were being proposed before the contract expired.

“This is rather intriguing,” said Ron Coley, who handles court management and budget matters for the county administrative office. “It would seem to speak to some dissatisfaction with the way the contract is being carried out. It’s strange to me that they would be seeking any change in mid-stream, unless something was wrong.”

Coley said the county still planned to study Stewart’s business arrangements with the Municipal Court’s Central District.

The public defender’s office generally handles the defense of indigents, but in criminal cases with more than one defendant, or in which public defenders have other conflicts of interest, assignments are made to private attorneys under contract to the county.

Since 1979, Stewart’s firm has held the contract for conflict cases originating in the county’s court system in Santa Ana. Stewart’s firm handled about 1,270 criminal misdemeanor and felony cases last year, for which the firm was paid more than $700,000.

The controversy over Stewart’s relationship with the local court system has come at a time when the county has been engaged in a volatile debate over how to lower the cost of providing attorneys for people who cannot afford them.

Judge Lewis said he had met with Stewart to discuss the new contract, which will be considered at a noon meeting of the Central District judges.

“This should not be taken as a comment on his performance,” Lewis said, referring to Stewart’s long hold on the contract. “Bill Stewart is an ethical representative of the Bar. He is a gentleman and has conducted himself as such.”

Without mentioning Anderson or Iles by name, Lewis said it was “regrettable that one or more parties may have made statements that attacked Mr. Stewart’s honesty or integrity.”

“These people are making statements about a contract that operates in my court--not anywhere else.” he said.

“We’re doing this to get greater control of our caseload,” Lewis said. “The availability of different law firms will help with that. I think it will be a better business decision to proceed.”