TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: Sheryl L. Bratton, County Counsel
REPORT BY: Douglas Parker, Deputy County Counsel
SUBJECT: Conflict Public Defender Agreement Amendments
RECOMMENDATION
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Approve and authorize six amendments to Conflict Public Defender services agreements. (Fiscal impact: $263,098 Expense; General Fund; Budgeted; Discretionary).
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BACKGROUND
The Public Defender provides legal representation to persons charged with a criminal offense or certain other offenses involving liberty interests who are financially unable to pay for private legal assistance. When the Public Defender is unable to represent a client due to a conflict of interest, the case is handled by attorneys assigned as Conflict Public Defenders (CPDs). Napa County has provided CPD services for years through a panel of attorneys individually contracted with the County. The panel consists of five CPDs who are primarily devoted to adult defense services and one CPD who is primarily devoted to juvenile defense services.
County staff released a Request for Qualifications on March 12, 2021 based on the assumption that each CPD would be assigned a half-time caseload. In June of 2024 staff conducted a review of the average caseloads for the CPDs and it indicated that each are regularly assigned a full-time caseload when compared to the felony caseloads in the Public Defender's Office. To provide adequate criminal defense to indigent defendants whose cases are assigned to the CPDs, Staff determined that compensation under the agreements should be adjusted to reflect the full-time caseloads. The base compensation under the Agreements is being increased from $11,870 per month to $15,170 per month for Fiscal Year 2024-2025. For Fiscal Year 2025-2026 the base compensation will increase to $19,187 monthly, which is equal to the salary for an Attorney IV in the Public Defender's Office.
The Agreement with Lance Hafenstein includes extra compensation for support staff to assist with CPD C...
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