L.A. County hasn't had a public defender in 2 years. It just appointed one

Los Angeles Times - Wednesday, August 16, 2018 | By NINA AGRAWAL

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has selected criminal
defense attorney Ricardo Garcia as the county's new public defender.

Garcia will take over as head of the oldest and largest public
defender's office in the nation, with 700 attorneys who provide
criminal defense services for adults and juveniles who cannot afford
their own lawyers. The office has been without a permanent head since
Ronald Brown retired in 2016.

Garcia is a supervising attorney in the San Diego County public
defender's office. He started there as a trial attorney in 1995 and
was later recruited to the Department of the Alternate Public
Defender, which defends cases where the public defender may have a
conflict of interest, often because multiple people have been charged
in a single case.

 From 2004 to 2006 Garcia served as the criminal justice director at
the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California, according
to the news release. In that position he monitored the Los Angeles
Police Department's compliance with a federal civil rights consent
decree and conditions in L.A. County jails.

Garcia later returned to the San Diego County public defender's
office, most recently supervising in the multiple conflicts
office/major cases section.

Garcia will take over the office from Interim Public Defender Nicole
Davis Tinkham, a former deputy county counsel who has defended
sheriff's deputies in lawsuits against the county.

Deputy public defenders protested Tinkham's appointment at a rally in
February, saying that she lacked the necessary experience
representing indigent clients and that her history with the Sheriff's
Department represented a conflict of interest.

Tiffiny Blacknell, a veteran attorney who helped organize that rally,
said she is "more than excited" about Garcia's appointment.

"We are impressed with the caliber of attorney the board has selected
to run our office and optimistic about the era of criminal justice
reform we are poised to lead," Blacknell said. "All we ever wanted
was quality leadership to further our great cause and we believe
Ricardo Garcia to be such a leader."

The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously for Garcia in closed
session Tuesday. His salary and start date are expected to be
finalized by the board at its next public meeting on Sept. 4.

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