Approve a legal services agreement with Robert Spangler authorizing him to serve on the Conflict Indigent Defense Panel and handle misdemeanor appeals, Racial Justice Act petitions, and other matters as may be assigned through June 30, 2026. (No general fund impact) (Pogledich)

Approve a legal services agreement with Robert Spangler authorizing him to serve on the Conflict Indigent Defense Panel and handle misdemeanor appeals, Racial Justice Act petitions, and other matters as may be assigned through June 30, 2026.

As the Board is aware, the County is legally obligated to ensure that indigent defendants are represented by skilled attorneys in criminal proceedings in Yolo Superior Court. The Public Defender's office handles the representation of most defendants, but at times it is unable to provide legal services because of a conflict of interest or (more rarely) other situation that prevents that office from providing representation. To address these situations, the County has long contracted with a panel of several local attorneys--the Conflict Indigent Defense Panel--for such services.

The purpose of this item is to authorize execution of a contract with J. Robert Spangler to serve as a Panel attorney primarily handling specific matters described in the agreement. In part, the proposed agreement addresses an upcoming vacancy on the Panel--the attorney currently contracted to handle misdemeanor appeals is refocusing her practice on federal appeals and will conclude her contract on December 31, 2024. Mr. Spangler has considerable experience handling appeals in criminal matters and is well-suited to take over misdemeanor appeals. The proposed agreement also addresses a recent spate of habeas petitions arising from a 2023 amendment to the Racial Justice Act (RJA). The 2023 allows currently incarcerated individuals to challenge their conviction and/or the length of their sentence if they believe either was affected by their race, ethnicity, or national origin. Due to Public Defender conflicts, the Conflict Panel has been assigned nine habeas petitions filed pursuant to the RJA. Habeas petitioners have a right to counsel in most instances, but the existing agreements with Conflict Panel attorneys did not anticipate this work and thus do not cover representation in RJA matters. 

The Office of the County Counsel must either contract with an attorney to represent the habeas petitioners or allow the Superior Court to establish the rate of compensation and direct the County to pay through orders entered in individual RJA matters. To control costs, this Office has typically negotiated agreements with qualified defense attorneys rather than leaving such matters to the Superior Court. The proposed agreement with Mr. Spangler anticipates that RJA matters could require up to $30,000 in attorney time through the remainder of this fiscal year, though the amount of work necessary to handle existing petitions is hard to determine and the prospect of additional petitions being assigned creates additional uncertainty. [As a point of reference, the District Attorney received an additional $300,000 for RJA-related costs in the 2023-24 fiscal year, and the Public Defender received the same amount in grant funds to support its handling of RJA petitions in early 2024.] Costs associated with misdemeanor appeals are generally quite low.

The agreement is included as Attachment A.

This Office consulted with Ava Landers, the Panel administrator, and the Department of Financial Services.

Not applicable to legal services agreements.