ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Public Defenders’ Rising Burden

Orange County officials have worried for years about the increasing cost of providing lawyers for defendants too poor to hire their own. Matters have gotten worse since the bankruptcy, causing justified concern.

It seems clear that private attorneys will have to represent some indigent defendants. About two-thirds of those charged with crimes in Orange County cannot pay for their own lawyer.

The first choice in those cases is the public defender’s office, staffed by lawyers who work for the county. But when a public defender has a conflict, the case has to be sent to someone else.

Because of concerns about the cost of hiring private attorneys on behalf of poor defendants, county supervisors and the public defender’s office came up with a worthwhile plan several months ago to create two additional units in the public defender’s office to handle conflict cases.

The office said it has saved nearly $5 million by handling cases in house instead of farming them out since the county declared bankruptcy last December. But even with three units the caseload has become nearly unbearable.

State Sen. Quentin L. Kopp (I-San Francisco) has introduced a bill that would let Orange County judges bypass the public defender’s office and appoint private attorneys for a price set by the judge.

Lawyers and judges have lined up on both sides of the bill. However, there are valid concerns that the bill could lead to judges favoring certain attorneys. Most judges are guided only by the law and avoid even the appearance of impropriety, but there have been cases where even fine judges went off track.

There is also the question of savings. County officials need to ensure that any private attorneys are hired at a reasonable rate, one that is cheaper than adding public defenders.

A system of random assignments, perhaps by having a judge choose the next name on a revolving list of approved lawyers, would work better than giving a judge sole discretion. Whatever procedure is adopted, cost will be an issue, though that must be balanced by the constitutional requirement that everyone charged with a crime be given an adequate defense.