Not everyone sees an issue with David Marcus; opinions divided on the new Public Defender

After my posts on David Marcus, I received the following email from one attorney stating I would find some mistatements by Marcus.

"He said he was at Lassen Public Defenders until 2012. He actually left in 2011.  

He then said he was with Cella, Lange, and Cella from 2012-2017, but he said he was unemployed and getting unemployment in 2012 in his bankruptcy filing.

And he has admitted he was living in East Coast for last five years and not practicing criminal law or appearing in California courts.''

So I continued my research. So far, I could only find some assertions and references made above in the NCJ article, muddy and unclear at best with editorial disclaimers, "not sure what job he was referring to" and references  to the one and only Lassen County Times article with no other independent verification. Wouldn't jump to the above conclusions based on a NCJ article. If there is evidence that can be proven in a court of law, then someone should present it.

The code below is the one that Marcus may have violated, allegedly.

27701. A person is not eligible to the office of public defender unless he has been a practicing attorney in all of the courts of the State for at least the year preceding the date of his election or appointment.

Regarding California Code 27701 and the potential litigation threat made to the County by Mr. Patrik Griego, I talked with other attorneys familiar with both Humboldt and state statutes, Humboldt and history and dynamics brought up the point below.

"The requirement regarding the public defender is actually that he be eligible to practice in all courts during the required period of time period it does not mean that he was actually in a courtroom on a day-to-day week-by-week basis."

Another attorney brought up that there are different requirements for different categories such as Judge, District Attorney and Public defender. This attorney also mentioned AB 259, intended to address certain loopholes that might occur in situations. http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/pub/11-12/bill/asm/ab_0251-0300/ab_259_bill_20120625_amended_sen_v96.html

This attorney also pointed out that you can be on unemoyment, while being contracted for part time work.

From what this attorney saw with the information so far, Mr. Marcus did not seem to be inactive in the California bar. By being admitted and active, you are eligible to walk into a courtroom, said that attorney.

A third attorney was more succinct. "This is much ado about nothing. Reaction from those butt hurt at not being hired. The position requires administrative skills, which may have played a role in the final decision."


Previous posts:

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/03/whoever-did-david-marcus-background.html?m=1

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/03/why-didnt-any-of-applicants-raise-this.html?m=1

http://johnchiv.blogspot.com/2017/03/is-humboldt-public-defender-david.html?m=1