California Public Defenders Honor Right to Counsel at State Convention 5/3/2003
From: James McWilliams, Co-Chair, CPDA Awards Committee 510-272-6671 Email: james92297@yahoo.com; or Louis Haffner, Sonoma County Public Defender, and president, CPDA, 707-565-2067 Email: lhaffner@sonoma-county.org SACRAMENTO, Calif., May 2 -- The California Public Defenders Association (CPDA) held its annual convention April 24-26, in Sacramento, Calif., and celebrated the 40th anniversary of Gideon vs. Wainwright -- the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established the right to counsel for any person accused of a crime and facing jail. Convention highlights included a California State Assembly Resolution approved by Assembly Speaker Herb J. Wesson Jr. commending the CPDA for "Providing its membership and other criminal defense lawyers with nominally-priced access to centralized Internet resources, including continuously updated electronic databases of research articles, briefs, motions, published case law, and an audio and video training library of over 2,000 hours of recorded educational and training lectures covering every aspect of criminal defense law." The resolution was presented to CPDA President Louis Haffner, the Sonoma County Public Defender by Daniel Wall, director of intergovernmental relations for Speaker Wesson. Highlights also included the following: -- A keynote speech on Friday, Apil 25th by James Brosnahan, who represented John Walker Lind, "the Marin County Taliban." Brosnahan gave a provocative keynote speech praising public defenders for standing up every day for the Constitution while some American citizens are denied the right to counsel and held incommunicado. Comparing the post 9-11 climate in this country to "the Troubles" (time in the wake of the 1992 Sunday bombing) in Northern Ireland, Brosnahan held up the example of the two Irish lawyers who were murdered for defending their unpopular clients' rights. Awards were presented to outstanding members of the public defender community. -- Defender of the Year: Barbara B. Fargo, a Santa Clara County Deputy Public Defender, was named the CPDA Public Defender of the Year for 2003. This award recognizes the California public defender who best exemplifies the commitment, creativity, legal ability, intelligence and energy that public defenders bring to representing the indigent. Fargo has handled everything from misdemeanor trials to death penalty murder cases. She has lectured widely throughout California to criminal defense lawyers and won a number of appellate cases including Whitman v. Superior Court which held that the prosecution cannot use multiple hearsay in preliminary hearings. Beloved and respected by her colleagues, Barbara received the Norwood Nedom Award in 2000 from the Santa Clara County public defenders and the Ruth Young Award in 1997 from Women Defenders. Fargo was profoundly influenced by the prison rights movement and knew that her calling was to be a public defender when she entered law school at the University of California, Berkeley in 1971. After almost three decades of front-line experience in the criminal justice system, Fargo observes that "... I still believe in representing the individual. On paper, this person may have done a lot of awful things. But I believe in going in and trying to make sense of what happened, trying to explain to the jury why this person did what he or she did -- in other words, to seek justice." -- Lifetime Achievement Award: Carl C. Holmes, recently retired as head of the Orange County Public Defenders Office, received the CPDA's Lifetime Achievement Award which acknowledges the outstanding individual who not only has made significant contributions to indigent defense, but who has given heart and soul to the work. Holmes, who grew up poor, excelled in school, attending the University of California, Berkeley in the 1960s. Working as a social worker in West Oakland during the birth of the Black Panther Party, the Free Speech Movement, and the Vietnam War all marked Holmes' development. He never wavered in his commitment to help the poor. After twenty-eight years as a criminal defense lawyer, Holmes says "I am most proud of defending the Public Defender Office of Orange County from at least a dozen direct attempts to do away with Public Defender services and the funding necessary to provide effective representation. But what I enjoyed most, and what moved me emotionally was the representation of our clients in the court room. Winning felt pretty damned good when the deck was stacked against you. Which of course was all of the time." Even in retirement, Holmes plans to continue his lifes work of helping the poor. "Once you realize the magnitude of problems the poor inherit, and their need for assistance, I don't think you can ever give up the fight to protect them. Every Public Defender knows what I am talking about...it is a bond of blood, born in the fight for just a bare semblance of equity and justice." -- Hon. Rose Elizabeth Bird Award: Judge Joseph Karesh was awarded the Rose Elizabeth Bird Award posthumously for his love of the law and unswerving commitment to fairness. Born in 1908 in North Carolina, the son of an orthodox rabbi, he ultimately came west, went to law school, and in 1960 was elected to the San Francisco Superior Court. He presided over many high profile cases, most notably the "Zebra" trial in 1978. After retirement he was assigned on a permanent basis to Alameda County Superior Court where he heard cases for almost 20 years. Judge Karesh was recognized by prosecutors and defense lawyers as a wonderful gentleman, legal scholar, and a compassionate and wise jurist. -- Defender Program of the Year Award: Steven J. Carroll, San Diego County Public Defender, accepted the Program of the Year Award for its Justice Case Activity and Tracking System (JCATS). This unique office file management computer system has revolutionized their legal practice by allowing them to manage their huge data base of client and witness files as well as generate case specific documents on demand. The California Public Defender's Association (CPDA) is a professional membership association of over 4,000 defense attorneys dedicated to maintaining excellence in the legal representation of indigent defendants through continuing education and training and representing the professional interests of public defenders. ------ General information about the California Public Defenders Association: CPDA Executive Director Michael Cantrall, M.A., B.A., Phone: 916-362-1690 ext. 8; Email: webmaster@cpda.org | |