OUR HISTORY-- THE PUBLIC DEFENDER CONCEPT
WHY AND WHEN?
The Public Defender concept was pioneered by the County of Los Angeles. Responding to the County Charter of 1913, the Board of Supervisors appointed the first Public Defender in the United States, Walton J. Wood. The office was opened for business on January 9, 1914 and from that time has constituted a regular department of Los Angeles County government. Since then the idea has spread to many other cities and states, and the Public Defender is now a well established concept servicing courts throughout the United States. In 1915 the public defense office was extended to the City of Los Angeles for the police courts -- The Police Court Defender - eventually handling the Municipal Court cases, while the County Public Defender handled the Superior Court felony cases. The City Public Defender merged into the county office in 1965, the one office handling misdemeanors, felonies, juvenile cases, mental health cases and some civil cases (presently -civil contempt).
On January 5, 2011, Ronald L. Brown was appointed the tenth person to head the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office. He leads a staff of more than 700 licensed attorneys plus a support staff of paralegals, investigators, social workers, and secretaries, all dedicated to the representation of indigent clients. The Public Defender represents adults who have been accused of felony or misdemeanor crimes, juveniles facing delinquency proceedings, involuntarily detained mental health patients, and persons with appellate and limited civil contempt matters. There is no distinction between the obligations of a defender toward his client and the duties of a private attorney in the same circumstances.
The Public Defender concept providing legal defense representation reflects society's concern that all individuals, including indigents, receive proper counsel to protect their rights under the law. This action helps to maintain a balance in the adversary process of determining the truth of accusations, and has proven itself to be cost effective for the taxpayers.
This "weight" becomes all encompassing to the individual as the seriousness degree of the crime increases. When the total liberty of a person is restricted in the more serious arrests, it is an increasing responsibility of the Justice System to carefully determine that the restriction is indeed a lawful one.
Thus, society must be vigilant of the Justice System to insure that all persons brought before the law have proper representation and that a proper balance within the system is maintained among the prosecution, defense and judicial activities. Only in this way will citizens be assured that the law will be applied effectively and equitably to all persons.
The value of having a deputy public defender's representation is reflected in the following excerpt from the Reader's Digest in 1965:
"Not long ago a moving tribute was paid the Public Defenders of Los Angeles. Alfino O. Rossi, an unemployed bartender, was tried in 1963 for killing a professional boxer. The Public Defender put in a well-substantiated plea of self-defense, and the jury acquitted Rossi.
'Even if I had $10,000 I couldn't buy that kind of defense -- for kind of money,' says Rossi today. 'And here I am a nobody, just a 52-year- old bartender in a jam. 'When a plain nobody gets a defense only a rich somebody could buy, you got a real great country.'"
In the words of former Public Defender Ellery E. Cuff: "Justice to each individual, regardless of financial conditions, race, creed or color, is the concern of all the public, and it is the duty of the State, rather than private individuals or agencies to safeguard the rights of an accused person."