December, 2016 — Humboldt County Public Defender Kevin Robinson retires.
Feb. 8, 2017 — The Humboldt County Board of Supervisors announces the hire of David Marcus as Humboldt’s next public defender.
Feb. 14, 2017 — Several members of the local defense bar address the Board of Supervisors, urging it to scrap Marcus’ hire and begin the process anew.
Feb. 28, 2017 — Local attorney Patrik Griego sends a letter to the supervisors asking them to prove Marcus meets minimum state qualifications to be a public defender, threatening that he will file a lawsuit if they fail to do so.
March 7, 2017 — The Board of Supervisors meets in closed session to discuss Marcus, issues a statement supporting him.
March 10, 2017 — Griego files the lawsuit alleging the county violated state law in hiring Marcus because the public defender is statutorily unqualified.
March 24, 2017 — All nine deputy public defenders send a letter to the supervisors alleging Marcus is incompetent and unqualified.
April 10, 2017 — Eight non-attorney staff members send the supervisors a letter alleging that Marcus is unqualified, lacks the legal knowledge required for the position and has “crippled” the office.
April 12, 2017 — After learning of the employees’ letter, Marcus allegedly verbally assaults an employee, prompting her to report the incident to police, who document the incident but don’t see any reason to believe Marcus committed any crime.
May 15, 2017 — The county of Humboldt files a motion to dismiss Griego’s lawsuit, calling it “frivolous and baseless,” and a “purely political dispute.”
June 16, 2017 — Griego responds, saying the suit is in the public interest and the board is not “above the law.”
June 29, 2017 — Visiting Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Marjorie Carter dismisses the case but gives Griego 30 days to file an emended petition, recognizing that Marcus’ July 3 deposition would likely help inform the lawsuit by clarifying Marcus work history.
July 3, 2017 — Marcus is deposed under oath.
July 21, 2017 — Griego refiles the suit, now alleging that Marcus’ claim that he worked remotely as a contract attorney for a Walnut Creek law firm for the year preceding his hire in Humboldt County is false.
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This article appears in Goodbye, Chief.
It is a travesty that the Board of Supervisors has dug their heels in and now at county expense they’re litigating a lawsuit, rather than admit that they did not follow law, made a mistake, or just simply misinterpreted the government code for the minimum qualifications to be a public defender. Furthermore as soon as they learned that Mr. Marcus had lied on his application and in his interview, they should have taken that opportunity to fire him. Frankly, it seems like a joke that his review was in front of the Supes, not a review by his peers. Nobody on that board knows anything about criminal defense. Frankly, I doubt anybody on that board cares about criminal defense. They just let a brown nose “nice guy” tell them what they wanted to hear rather than listening to the people who actually deal with him on a daily basis. The people that suffer are the most vulnerable people in our community.. they do not have a voice and they do not have competent representation when Mr. Marcus is their lawyer.