The ACLU announced Tuesday it is suing Riverside County for alleged unresponsiveness to public records act requests concerning how legal counsel is made available to cash-strapped residents countywide, even though some of the information is available online.
According to the ACLU Foundation, in 2021, the organization’s Northern California branch sent letters to all of the state’s 58 counties, inquiring about the process of how indigent residents receive legal assistance, or are appointed attorneys.
ACLU attorney Eva Bitran said Riverside County was “alone” in not responding to requests for documents under the California Public Records Act.
“Riverside’s refusal to comply with its legal obligations harms the public and violates the California Constitution,” Bitran said.
The county Executive Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
“Public records requests helped uncover Kern County’s practice of systematically denying poor misdemeanor defendants their constitutional rights to counsel and due process,” the ACLU said in a statement.
Attorney Phillip Wiese, who is representing the organization in its suit, alleged Riverside County “has wholly disregarded its obligations under the PRA.”
“This behavior prevents public oversight of the county’s actions,” he said.
The suit is seeking a Superior Court order compelling Riverside County to comply.
In addition to operating the Office of the Public Defender, which has received budget increases for most of the last decade, the county has long maintained “indigent defense contracts.”
The agreements are intended to ensure that residents who cannot be represented by deputy public defenders due to conflicts, or who require a level of representation that the Office of the Public Defender is unable to provide at a given time, receive legal counsel.
The current head of the Office of the Public Defender, Steven Harmon, is a former indigent defense contractor with the county, and the county’s chief executive officer, Jeff Van Wagenen, served in a similar capacity, representing indigent defendants by court appointment, prior to entering county government in the 2010s.
The Board of Supervisors’ most recent approval of indigent defense contracts occurred on June 27, involving five-year agreements with multiple law firms serving all corners of the county, at an aggregate estimated cost of nearly $12 million. The details are available via the Office of the Clerk of the Board’s web portal.