JD Journal » deputy district attorneys

Layoffs for Sacramento DA Office

joshua — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:26:47 +0000

Sacramento DA Jan Scully said yesterday that amid a $6.9 million budget cut for the next fiscal year her office will be laying off 50 employees. Those fired include 11 deputy district attorneys whose responsibilities include prosecuting misdemeanors.

One likely consequence, according to Scully, will be a higher number of plea bargains for relatively minor offenses: “What you might see is in the more minor cases,” said Scully, “you might see us early on giving better deals to get that case out of the system. We’re going to need to … focus mostly on the serious and violent felonies”

Boulder County DA Fires 6 Prosecutors

Erik Even — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:05:04 +0000

Colorado’s Boulder County District Attorney’s Office has terminated six prosecutors, including well-known attorneys Colette Cribari and Bryan Quiram.

Deputy district attorneys Lisa Hunt, Phil Davis, Jessica Lasky and Chris Leh have also been shown the door. No official reason has bee given for any of the terminations.

New DA Stanley L. Garnett, who started in January, let go two attorneys at that time. The office now has 21 prosecutors, and four more will start work in the next few months.

Hunt suspects her termination was related to a sexual harassment claim she filed in May.

Lanier Adds Attorneys for Houston Expansion

Erik Even — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 17:26:34 +0000

The Lanier Law Firm is expanding in Houston, adding six new attorneys in the firm’s Asbestos Litigation Group, and an additional 14,000 square feet of office space.

Respected asbestos litigators M. Clay Fostel, formerly of Houston’s Heard Robins Cloud Black & Lubel, and William H. Barfield, previously with Houston’s Smith & Hassler, are joining Lanier.

Also joining: C. Jason Lindamood, formerly an assistant district attorney for Wharton County; Benjamin Pyle, formerly with Houston’s RAS; and recent South Texas College of Law graduates Matthew McFarlane and Lauren Ware.

With the latest additions, The Lanier Law Firm is now employs 40 attorneys, including 20 in the firm’s Asbestos Group.

The Lanier Law Firm also has offices in Los Angeles, Palo Alto, and New York.

LA County DA Not Immune to Retaliation Claim

Erik Even — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 19:03:13 +0000

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley is not entitled to qualified immunity from a retaliation claim filed by a deputy DA who spoke publicly about problems tied to an investigation of a failed $200 million school construction project.

David Eng served on a task force to investigate fraud and environmental crimes associated with construction of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Belmont Learning Complex, which was halted in 1999. He was demoted and falsely charged with a misdemeanor relating to the misuse of office computers after concluding, as part of the task force, that no crimes had been committed. Cooley was elected in 2000 on a campaign to prosecute individuals tied to the Belmont project.

The 9th Circuit found that Eng was within his First Amendment rights when he blew the whistle on a task force colleague who had leaked to the IRS that the school district had committed fraud when purchasing the Belmont facility. The panel also found that a lawyer Eng hired to defend him against the misdemeanor charges, Mark Geragos, was within his First Amendment rights to speak about the retaliation against Eng in a 2003 Los Angeles Times article.

The panel held that “the full range of adverse employment action appears to have been a politically-motivated effort to silence Eng, who stood to embarrass Cooley by undermining a central plank in his campaign platform.”

Union Defends Jobs of Deputy District Attorneys

Erik Even — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 19:13:37 +0000

The American Federation of State, County & Municipal Employees is attempting to block a Polk County, Oregon District Attorney from sacking five deputy district attorneys.

District Attorney-elect Stan Butterfield notified the office’s five deputy district attorneys that he would be interviewing and hiring new attorneys once taking office.

In a letter to the current staff, Butterfield wrote:

“This letter shall serve as formal notification to you that upon my taking office as District Attorney for Polk County, your current appointment as deputy district attorney will expire. If you wish to be considered for subsequent appointment by me, please contact my secretary…

The AFSCME insists that Butterfield is overstepping his authority. AFSCME Local 173′s Don Loving:

“The union that represents Polk County employees … will vigorously oppose any effort by Polk County District Attorney-elect Stan Butterfield to replace any of the current five deputy district attorneys.”

Butterfield insists that the deputy DAs are “at will” employees; the union replies that’s a misunderstanding of Oregon labor law.

“These are employees represented by a legal and binding collective bargaining agreement. Mr. Butterfield’s election comes with no magic wand that eliminates that agreement. Moreover, this exact same type of case has been litigated several times all the way to the Oregon Supreme Court, and the courts have been clear in siding with the represented employees.”

Loving said a union attorney has sent Butterfield a letter outlining the legal history of similar cases.

In Oregon, elected district attorneys have the leeway to appoint replacement deputies in the event of a resignation or to terminate with reasonable cause. But the district attorney is not authorized to make a carte blanche change.

Via The Statesman-Journal.