County renews grant pursuing sentence reductions in some homicide cases over protest from district attorney

Orange County Dist. Atty. Todd Spitzer contested the renewal of a $4-million grant allowing the public defender’s office to seek sentence reductions for certain people convicted of murder pursuant to a law passed four years ago. But the Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to accept the state funding Tuesday.

Before 2019, defendants who played indirect roles in homicides could be charged with first-degree murder, even if they had no intention of participating in a killing or were unaware someone had died in connection with their actions. That changed with a bill signed into law by former Gov. Jerry Brown, opening the door for petitions from hundreds of qualifying inmates serving long sentences seeking an earlier release.

The cost of filing and litigating those requests had fallen entirely on the shoulders of local government agencies until the Board of State and Community Corrections began offering a grant to cover them last year, Orange County Public Defender Martin Schwarz told supervisors during a meeting of the board Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Spitzer said that his office has reviewed 600 petitions since the law was changed and had 192 pending. That has resulted in significant costs to his department that won’t be covered by the grant that was up for renewal.

“I hate to speak against the grant because I understand that Mr. Schwarz could use the money to fund his ability to do this work,” Spitzer said. “But I can’t rebut this workload without additional resources.’’

The money provided by the state would give the public defender’s office funding for 25 attorneys and aides to reexamine the sentencing of inmates who might be eligible for a reduction in prison time. If the county does not accept it, those cases will be handed to a panel of private attorneys at the public’s expense.

Supervisor Don Wagner said he did not support lightening sentences for those who had been convicted in cases impacted by the change in state law. But since county agencies were legally required to review those petitions, he and his colleagues voted unanimously to renew the grant.

“This is all mandated work,” Schwarz said. “This is work the county has to do ... so regardless of whether the county accepts the grant money or not the county is on the hook to provide these services.”

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