Memorandum
Date: February 14, 2023
To: The Honorable Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Susan Parker, County Administrative Officer
Subject: Overview and Discussion of the Organizational Analysis of Indigent Services Report Entitled "The Right to Counsel in Lake County, California"
Executive Summary:
After a competitive request for proposals, your Board approved an Agreement with the Sixth Amendment Center (6AC) to conduct an operational analysis of indigent defense services on August 31, 2021. Beginning in September 2021, 6AC observed approximately 170 court proceedings, involving indigent representation attorneys in the Lake County Superior Court in all critical stages of an adult trial level criminal case. In addition, 6AC also interviewed stakeholders in the judiciary, indigent defense, prosecution, and law enforcement.
After receiving a draft copy of the report, staff reviewed the draft and met with 6AC over several months to clarify the methodology, data and recommendations of the report. These meetings resulted in additional court observations in November 2022. The report was published on the 6AC website on February 1, 2023.
Briefly, the findings include:
1. The State of California delegates to the Lake County Board of Supervisors and judges of the Lake County Superior Court most of the state's constitutional obligation to provide effective assistance of counsel to indigent people at the trial court level in Lake County in all the types of cases for which the state guarantees the right to counsel. Meanwhile, the State of California has not established any means to ensure that Lake County provides to every indigent defendant an attorney who has the time, training, and resources to provide effective presentation at every critical state of a criminal or juvenile delinquency case.
2. Lake County Contracts with an informal partnership of private attorneys, known as Lake Indigent Defense ("LID"), to administer and provide the right to co...
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