Vanguard Sacramento Bureau Chief
SACRAMENTO, CA – A strike here by 300 Sacramento County public defender lawyers and deputy district attorneys at one of the state’s busiest courts enters its second week Tuesday, and public defenders are strongly disputing some claims those jailed are now better off with private lawyers.
The criminal defense lawyers – who said they plan to visit the county supervisor meeting Wednesday – are striking for a pay raise after negotiations with Sacramento County failed. They said they are losing good lawyers to the private sector because pay to government lawyers is not competitive.
In response to a statement by a community group last week, Quoc To, a senior attorney with the Public Defender’s Office, told the Vanguard, “We dispute the conflict panel (private lawyers called in to replace public defenders) resolves cases and get clients out at a faster rate than us. On strike or not. It’s a fabrication.”
Decarcerate Sacramento claimed last week, “incarcerated people are finally getting long overdue bail motions and Humphrey’s motions (a 2021 ruling that requires courts to consider one’s ability to pay in setting their bail amount). In just one day, half of CCD’s clients were released from jail, because their defense attorneys ensured their rights were being respected.”
But To disputes that, charging that “whoever is feeding them (Decarcerate) that information is flat out lying. It’s a complete lie.”
“There is a reason the county increased our office funding to add 16 new positions last year. We were able to show our representation was not only more effective but we saved the county twice the rate as (private attorney conflict panel) cases given the constant delays caused by many panel attorneys,” explained To in a Vanguard interview.
To cited statistics that illustrate, in one courtroom, 19 of 20 cases were continued by non-public defenders, including 13 of 20 in custody – not at all what Decarcerate claimed in its statement last week, that private lawyers were doing a better job at getting jailed incarcerated freed before trial.
The Sacramento County Attorneys Association (SCAA) is a union of Deputy District Attorneys, Deputy Public Defenders and Department of Child Support Service Attorneys, and said it has been “without a comprehensive contract for two years…the County provided its first offer to end the strike. The offer failed to address any aspect of the underlying labor dispute or move our members towards competitive wages.”
The county’s offer, said the union in a statement Monday, was “offensive. It is a net zero and worsens SCAA members’ position. A neutral third-party arbitrator recommended SCAA members receive retroactive wage increases to address the County’s unacceptable delays and an equity raise of 5.5 percent to nine percent to be competitive with other similar-sized offices.
“This independent recommendation underscores the need for competitive compensation to stem the recruitment and retention of experienced attorneys at both offices. SCAA’s proposal only moves its members to the average compensation for comparable agencies.”
The lawyers are now charging, “The County has yet to respond to SCAA’s offer and is now attempting to break our strike with an injunction. SCAA provided the County with an extensive mitigation plan and exempted essential positions to ensure that public safety and constitutional rights were protected. The County refused to use third party resources and county counsel employees formerly employed in the Public Defender’s to maintain adequate staffing. The County’s anti-union animus must END.”
Decarcerate said its concern, while it backed the public defenders on strike, was “the strike’s impact on mostly low-income Black and Brown people incarcerated in Sacramento County’s jails who are awaiting their constitutional rights,” noting “81 percent of the jail population is pre-trial, meaning they have the constitutional right to legal representation to preserve their right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty.”
But, in an interview with local news outlets, To stated, “We dedicate our lives to defend the most vulnerable among us: the indigent, the marginalized and those who are often left without a voice in our legal system. Today, we are forced to stand up for our own rights.”
To told the Vanguard, in respect to those jailed in need of legal help, “We tried to avoid (the strike) for two years while the county negotiated in bad faith.”
A strike spokesperson said, “We will show up for every trial that’s already in progress. We will show up for last-day trials, meaning that the accused has a constitutional right to have it within a statutory period, we will show up for the end of that statutory period. We will show up for our last day preliminary hearings.”
Decarcerate Sacramento, late last week, appeared to moderate its position, writing that while concern for indigent incarcerated remains, “The right to strike is an important tool that all workers, including public defenders, should have to improve their working conditions…we are long-time advocates for increased funding to the Public Defender’s Office, and support increased pay and back pay for public defenders.
“The county could end this strike by meeting the demands of the union. We appreciate feedback from our members and partners emphasizing the importance of solidarity with both workers and incarcerated people, which led us to issue this additional statement.”
The group added, “Sacramentans deserve a well-resourced, effective, and justice-driven public defender’s office to ensure that all of their rights are being upheld. We seek to work alongside our public defenders and county leaders to…protect the rights of people accused of crimes are enforced, and enact further policy changes to the criminal legal system in Sacramento.”
