Letter: Right person chosen to be public defender

Thursday, Oct. 18, 2001 | 9:15 a.m.

I am a trial lawyer who has practiced 16 years in Clark County, and the following are my opinions on Tom Reilly's selection of Marcus Cooper as the next Clark County public defender:

Let's get the facts straight for once. Reilly's selection of Cooper was the right one and the criticism is ridiculous. The critics of the county manager's selection of Cooper argue that there were more qualified candidates and that in the past the public defender's office would plea-bargain too many cases.

My questions for the critics are quite simple:

Upon what criteria are the critics basing their complaints? Are they alleging that Cooper was unwilling to litigate cases? Cooper was not part of the prior administration and was not in a position to dictate office policy. Notwithstanding, Cooper's record as a deputy in the public defender's office does not reflect the track record of the prior administration.

Cooper tried over 100 felony capital cases and, therefore, he has more jury trial experience than all of the other candidates combined.

The public defender's office was in dire need of new leadership in the form of an experienced litigator and not another administrator or bureaucrat.

In Cooper, Reilly selected an experienced litigator who has more felony jury trial experience than 99.9 percent of the criminal defense lawyers in the entire state of Nevada.

Get over it critics. Reilly chose the most qualified candidate.

TIMOTHY C. WILLIAMS