Is Humboldt's Public Defender Qualified for the Job? Visiting Judge
Says She Will Issue a Ruling One Month From Today
Lost Coast Outpost | Humboldt County by Rhonda Parker November 13,
2017 4:06 PM
A judge is expected to rule next month on "the bottom line" in the
lawsuit over whether Public Defender David Marcus is qualified for the job.
"The bottom line is we're going to have to determine what that
statute means," visiting Judge Marjorie Carter told attorneys at a
hearing today. The nearly century-old statute mandates that a public
defender must have practiced in the California courts in the year
before he or she was hired.
Today Carter, on speaker phone in Courtroom Four, said she would
issue her interpretation of the statute on Dec. 13. She told attorney
Patrik Griego, who filed the suit, and County Counsel Jeffery Blanck,
representing the county and Board of Supervisors, to have their
arguments filed by Dec. 7 and the responses by Dec. 12. Carter will
be in Humboldt County on the 13th to issue her ruling.
Griego maintains Marcus last set foot in a California courtroom in
2012 and therefore is ineligible. But Blanck says it is sufficient
that Marcus was licensed to practice in the state. And even though he
was living in Florida and working as an insurance adjuster, he also
was doing legal work for his friend's law firm in the Bay Area, the
county says.
Griego started out today by objecting to the county's plan to take
numerous depositions, a process expected to last well into 2018.
Griego said that appears to be an effort to delay the case until
after Marcus has spent a year on the job, and therefore has practiced
in the courts for a year.
Blanck denied that, pointing out that it took Griego three months to
set up a deposition of Marcus, and saying the county has a right to a
discovery process. He said he is not asking for a continuance
"because there's no trial date set."
Apparently the county won't finish all the planned depositions, since
the ruling is set in just a few weeks. Among those being deposed are
all the listed plaintiffs, and the deputy public defenders who worked
in the office when Marcus took over. Many of those attorneys have resigned.
Blanck said he has a standard questionnaire for the deputy public
defenders. Among the questions are whether they feel Marcus's hiring
caused them "irreparable harm."
"So far the irreparable harm is the cloud over the office," Blanck
said. "Well, we're up in Humboldt and we get a lot of clouds here,
and they come and go."
Asked whether the attorneys had any proof that Marcus didn't work
five hours a week for the Bay Area firm, the typical answer was "We
don't have any facts, we just don't believe it," Blanck said.
There also is scant proof that Marcus did work for the firm. There is
no written contract, his name is on no court filings and he has never
been paid.
According to documents filed by Griego, after Marcus's controversial
tenure as the Lassen County public defender he ended up in New Jersey
collecting unemployment benefits. He then moved to Florida and became
an insurance adjuster, and finally "had been relegated to applying
for entry-level deputy public defender positions without success."
The Board of Supervisors hired him as Humboldt's top defender in
February. He is being paid $150,132 a year plus full benefits.
In documents prepared for today's hearing, Griego requested that
Carter set aside Marcus's appointment and order the county to abide
by state law in hiring a public defender. She made no ruling on those issues.
The judge indicated the important factor is the interpretation of the
state statute, with other issues "sort of in the background."
Griego said outside court that if Carter rules his interpretation of
the statute is correct, "I think the case is over."
If the judge sides with the county's position, he said, there will be
an evidentiary hearing on what Marcus was doing to practice law in
the year before he was hired.
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https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2017/nov/13/visiting-judge-says-she-will-rule-humboldt-countys/
