Critics wary of county’s choice for public defender

Adrienne Packer

Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2001 | 10:47 a.m.

Clark County administrators announced Tuesday that they plan to recommend that Deputy Public Defender Marcus Cooper replace retired public defender Morgan Harris.

The decision to hire within a department that is the focus of an internal audit and that has been criticized for its indigent defense concerned civil rights activists who paid close attention to the process.

"The public defender's office has had many problems and really needs someone to shake up the office so that they will provide the kind of representation that people expect and deserve to have," said Allen Lichtenstein, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union.

"Mr. Cooper has been a longtime member of that office. We hope that he will take seriously the need to make fundamental changes and will not simply be content with continuing the status quo."

In a prepared statement released this morning, Clark County Manager Thom Reilly said Cooper was the best "fit" for the position. Cooper was chosen over fellow deputy public defenders Peter Christiansen and Ralph Baker and federal public defender Franny Forsman.

"I feel he has the vision and commitment to make the necessary changes to move the office forward in this millennium," Reilly said. "Marcus Cooper has positive ideas on training, diversity, accountability and standards that will contribute to a more effective and streamlined office."

Reilly could not be reached for further comment Tuesday.

Cooper, who has been a deputy public defender since 1978, will make $135,393 a year if the Clark County Commission approves Reilly's recommendation during its Oct. 16 meeting.

The county has not yet released results of an internal audit that sources say shows county-paid lawyers ran private errands on the clock and a soda machine was illegally placed in the office's public lobby.

Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation officials cracked down on the public defender's office after discovering Harris owned the soda machine.

The office was also the focus of a study conducted by the Spangenberg Group, a research and consulting firm from Massachusetts that was hired by the American Bar Association two years ago to look into indigent defense throughout the country.

The report, which was released in January, revealed that Clark County public defenders take only 0.6 percent of their cases to trial and plea bargain the rest. The national trial average is between 4 percent and 7 percent.