Los Angeles County Public Defender
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The Los Angeles County Public Defender's (LACPD) office is an agency of the government of Los Angeles County. LACPD was the first public defender agency in the United States. The current public defender is Ricardo García. It provides
legal assistance Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to cou ...
to individuals charged with a crime in state court who are financially unable to retain private counsel. The LACPD system is the largest public defender agency in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
. The Alternate Public Defender (APD) and LACPD combined have over one thousand attorneys as well as support staff consisting of paralegals, investigators,
social workers Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...
, and others.


History

At the Chicago World's Fair in 1893, during a "Congress" of the Board of Lady Managers,
Clara Shortridge Foltz Clara Shortridge Foltz (July 16, 1849 – September 2, 1934) was an American lawyer, the first female lawyer on the West Coast, and the pioneer of the idea of the public defender. The Criminal Courts Building in downtown Los Angeles was renamed ...
made her first highly public presentation of her idea of the public defender. Then, due to Foltz's persistent efforts over a period of several years, Los Angeles County established a public defender office in 1913 under its county charter. The
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their firs ...
appointed the first Public Defender in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
, Walton J. Wood. The original staff consisted of Wood, four deputies and a secretary. In June 1915, the
Los Angeles City Council The Los Angeles City Council is the legislative body of the City of Los Angeles in California. The council is composed of 15 members elected from single-member districts for four-year terms. The president of the council and the president pro tem ...
created the City Police Court Defender and appointed James H. Pope to handle the defense in misdemeanor cases. The City Public Defender handled Municipal Court filings, including felony preliminary hearings, while the County Public Defender handled felony cases in Superior Court. From 1921 to 1927, William Tell Aggeler served as the Chief Public Defender. Judge Aggeler was an important figure in the early development of public defender's office. Frederic H. Vercoe was the Chief Public Defender from 1927 to 1946. William B. Neeley served as the head defender from 1946 - 1949. Ellery E. Cuff ran the office from 1949 until 1963. During Cuff's time with the office, the office consisted of 65 attorneys who handled 1,200 cases each year on an annual budget of $950,000. From 1963 until 1967, Erling J. Hovden was the Public Defender. In 1965, the City Public Defender merged into the county office, with the one office handling misdemeanors, felonies, juvenile cases, mental health cases and some civil cases. Richard S. Buckley served as the Public Defender from 1967 until 1976. In 1976, Wilbur F. Littlefield took over as the Public Defender. He had been with the office since the 1950s. Littlefield was known for his defense of death penalty cases. Littlefield also refused to accept an excessive workload on behalf of the office. In 1994, Michael P. Judge was appointed Public Defender. In 2011, Ronald Brown took over as the Public Defender. In 2017, Kelly Emling became the Acting Public Defender.http://pd.co.la.ca.us


Notable attorneys

* Tiffiny Blacknell * Ricardo García * Charles Gessler *
Eyvin Hernandez Eyvin Hernandez is a Salvadoran American lawyer who works in the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office in California. Hernandez is currently imprisoned in Venezuela after being arrested by Venezuelan military agents in March 2022. Early li ...


Alternate Public Defender

In 1993, the
Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors (LACBOS) is the five-member governing body of Los Angeles County, California, United States. History On April 1, 1850 the citizens of Los Angeles elected a three-man Court of Sessions as their firs ...
created the Alternate Public Defender's (APD) Office in order to curb the costs in cases where the Public Defender had a conflict of interest. Bruce Hoffman was appointed the first Alternate Public Defender and upon his retirement in 2002 was succeeded by his then Chief Deputy Janice Fukai.


Locations

The Public Defender offices in Los Angeles County include: Los Angeles International Airport, in Alhambra, Bellflower, Burbank, Chatsworth, Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, Compton,
Downey Downey may refer to: People * Downey (surname) *Robert Downey Jr. Places * Downey, California, US * Downey, Idaho, US * Downey, Iowa, US Businesses * W. & D. Downey, photographic studio * Downey Studios, created out of a former Boeing plant Sch ...
,
East Los Angeles East Los Angeles ( es, Este de Los Ángeles), or East L.A., is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California. As of the 2020 census it had a population of 118,786, a drop of 6.1% from 2010, when it was 126,496. For statistical purpo ...
, El Monte, Glendale, Inglewood, Lancaster,
Lomita Lomita (Spanish for "Little hill") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 20,921 at the 2020 census, up from 20,256 at the 2010 census. History The Spanish Empire had expanded into this area when the ...
,
Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...
, Norwalk,
Pasadena Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district. ...
, Pomona,
San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...
,
Santa Clarita Santa Clarita (; Spanish for "Little St. Clare") is a city in northwestern Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. With a 2020 census population of 228,673, it is the third-largest city by population in Los Angeles County, the 17t ...
, Torrance, Van Nuys, and
West Covina West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some R ...
.


References


External links

*
County of Los Angeles Alternate Public Defender
{{County of Los Angeles Criminal defense organizations Government of Los Angeles County, California Government agencies established in 1914 County government agencies in California Crime in Los Angeles Public defense institutions