For years, a unique team of public defenders brought Santa Clara County national recognition for keeping poor people with mental health and drug issues from languishing in jail before their trials — something only the wealthy could afford. Now that team is on life support.
Massive county budget shortfalls forced the Public Defender’s Office to cut its innovative Pre-Arraignment Representation and Review team by two attorneys last year. That leaves one lawyer dedicated solely to meeting defendants shortly after their arrest. But even that attorney might be cut in the next two to three months.
It could spell doom for a program that’s operated since 2019 and has reduced people’s pretrial jail time by more than 20 days. It’s been the difference between a judge deciding to release someone at their first court appearance or hold them in custody for weeks before trial.
A California Policy Lab study found defendants in the program are more than twice as likely to have their cases dismissed, and 75% less likely to be convicted than people who weren’t helped by the team.
“It is heartbreaking to our lawyers and clients alike,” Assistant Public Defender Charles Hendrickson, who led the program’s launch, told San José Spotlight.
The potential cut comes just months after the team rolled out a new court calendar to fast-track individuals for mental health treatment as early as their arraignment hearing. That reduces the time people sit in jail as they await guilty plea outcomes, before options such as jail diversion or Mental Health Treatment Court become available.
It could also worsen prolonged jail stays, which helped bring county jail deaths to a 20-year high under Sheriff Bob Jonsen last year, as San José Spotlight first reported. Jonsen’s office previously warned the trend could worsen with the passage of Proposition 36, which will put more people in jail for crimes such as petty retail theft.
The public defender program has even seen support from prosecutors on the opposing bench.
“The District Attorney’s Office has worked closely with the public defender’s PARR team to strengthen justice and safety in our community,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen told San José Spotlight.
The Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors next week will discuss steep cuts to other parts of Acting Public Defender Damon Silver’s office. This will include eliminating the Community Outreach Attorney team, which goes out to homeless encampments and shelters and engages other vulnerable communities outside the courtroom. In all, the county budget approved last year required $6.8 million in cuts to Silver’s office, reflected in the ongoing proposals at the Jan. 28 board meeting.
The pre-arraignment team for years pulled from other office resources to help its lawyers meet with as many people as possible at the Santa Clara County Main Jail. The team also leans on arraignment defenders when their schedules allow. But the program’s small size has hamstrung its ability to serve the entire county jail population. The program only serves defendants awaiting felony arraignment at the main Hall of Justice, and doesn’t reach misdemeanor defendants or anyone in North and South County.
A manual count conducted last February found in the prior year, pre-arraignment attorneys engaged 136 out of 317 total people in custody who were eligible for the program. Nearly 700 people in custody never received the service.
Silver’s office last March estimated the pre-arraignment team would need five more lawyers to fully serve everyone in custody. The work has seen significant pullback with just one dedicated attorney.
“I am confident that no county decision maker welcomed the public defender making the difficult choice to draw down our early representation services,” Silver told San José Spotlight.
Silver said the budget tied his office’s hands, forcing him to focus strictly on services that are constitutionally mandated. Meanwhile, some lawyers in his office are asking fellowship attorneys and law students at private practices to assist the team and prevent its elimination. They warn that’s only a stop-gap measure — not a solution.
“We remain committed to pursuing every option to preserve some level of our gold standard pre-arraignment service that supports the most vulnerable members of our community — the poor, mentally ill, and communities of color,” Silver said.
Contact Brandon Pho at [email protected] or @brandonphooo on X.
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