Defender’s Office Protests Cutback by North County Judge

The county public defender’s office has declared a war of words with the supervising judge of North County Municipal Court, contending that the judge is biased against it.

The defender’s office filed a writ Wednesday attacking Judge Victor Ramirez for relieving it of cases that they contend rightfully belong to it. Affidavits were also filed Tuesday seeking to have Ramirez removed from all cases being handled by the public defender’s lawyers.

The flurry of legal filings was prompted by Ramirez’s decision last week to, on one day a week, not assign new clients to the office for arraignment. He believes the office has too few lawyers to handle the load.

Suspicious of Motives

Officials at the public defender’s office, however, say they have plenty of lawyers and are suspicious of the judge’s motives.

“There’s no evidence at all to support what he’s saying,� said Larry S. Beyersdorf, head of the office. “We’ve got more than enough lawyers to try any cases he wants to send out.�

The squabble between the judge and the defenders began last Thursday when Ramirez ordered the defender’s office to make an attorney immediately available to try a drunk-driving case. The attorney who was scheduled to try the case, Susan Light, was finishing up another trial that day and would have been ready to start the drunken-driving trial first thing Friday morning, according to Beyersdorf.

But Ramirez, apparently fed up with what he perceived to be the continuing unavailability of the defense attorneys, ordered the case to go to trial anyway in the courtroom of Judge Marguerite L. Wagner. Light’s supervisor, Kathleen Cannon, explained the situation to Wagner and was granted a reprieve.

When Ramirez found out, he was enraged. He summoned Cannon to his chambers, told her she was in contempt of court, and ordered his bailiffs to take her to jail. Cannon insisted on being heard and, after she stated her position “rather forcibly,� Ramirez relented, according to Beyersdorf, who was also in the judge’s chambers.

Immediately afterward, Ramirez took the bench and announced he would stop assigning cases to the public defender’s office one day a week.

Never Seen Anything Like It

“I’ve been in this business for 21 years, and I have never seen anything like that contempt hearing,� Beyersdorf said. “That was theater of intimidation.�

Beyersdorf contends that the hearing was highly improper--that neither he nor Cannon had any idea what was going on until the judge announced his finding of contempt.

Beyersdorf said he believes Ramirez’s subsequent action in reducing the defender’s office caseload may have been an attempt to divert attention from the controversial contempt hearing.

Ramirez, in an interview Wednesday, said he does not regret finding Cannon in contempt and believes he acted fairly.

“I’m absolutely convinced that either she lied to the judge or misled her,� he said. “My order was that no continuance would be granted. . . . There is no way (Cannon) could have misunderstood my order.�

Ramirez, who was appointed to head the North County Municipal Court in January, said the incident marked the first time in 11 years on the bench that he has cited an attorney for contempt. He also said it was the first time he has been accused of bias.

No Animosity

Ramirez said he has no animosity toward the recently established public defender’s office and believes it is a better and more cost-effective system for defending indigents.

The previous system, the county Office of Defender’s Services, had only four defense attorneys in North County, and most indigent cases were assigned to private attorneys on a contract basis. The new public defender’s office was established by county supervisors last year and, by last March, had assumed 100% of the indigent criminal cases in the county.

Beyersdorf acknowledges that there was an initial staffing problem in North County, resulting in his office’s recent request to be temporarily relieved of half its felony caseload. But the misdemeanor caseload in Municipal Court was never a problem, he said.

Ramirez, however, is standing fast to his contention that an attorney shortage is creating critical problems.

“Their on-time appearances are very low because their attorneys are covering multiple departments,� he said. “Many of the defendants who appear in court have not even been seen by their lawyer.� Ramirez said he brought the shortage to the attention of Frank Bardsley, Beyersdorf’s boss, more than six weeks ago.

Ramirez said he will continue to assign cases to the public defender’s office every day but Thursday, reasoning that the action will lighten the office’s load by about 20%.

‘Affidavits Started Flying’

Regarding last Thursday’s tiff, Ramirez said: “I wish Larry Beyersdorf would have come to personally talk it out with me. But I was gone Friday. . . . I came back Monday, and then the affidavits started flying.�

Beyersdorf said Wednesday that one of the issues his office intends to raise is how the private attorneys appointed by Ramirez to take the public defender’s cases will be paid.

“This is really going to cost the taxpayers a substantial amount of money if he goes ahead and appoints private counsel . . . “ Beyersdorf said.

Ramirez, in a letter delivered to the public defender’s office Wednesday, said he will begin appointing cases today to County Conflict Administrator Elliot Lande.

Lande, who occupies a newly created position with the county’s Office of Alternative Defense Counsel, will be responsible for assigning cases to private lawyers.

“We have contingency plans in effect for Thursday, and we have lawyers standing by in anticipation,� Lande said Wednesday. “Will it cost the county money? Certainly it will.�

The Board of Supervisors recently approved a $23-million budget for the public defender’s office. The money to pay the outside attorneys assigned cases by the alternative defense office will come out of the public defender’s budget, according to county spokesman Bob Lerner. Technically, a judge is permitted to appoint outside counsel only under “extenuating circumstances,� he said.