{"id":65714,"date":"2024-07-01T12:07:06","date_gmt":"2024-07-01T19:07:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=65714"},"modified":"2024-07-01T12:07:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-01T19:07:06","slug":"la-county-public-defenders-office-celebrates-one-year-anniversary-of-independent-defense-counsel-office-launch-with-two-naco-achievement-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=65714","title":{"rendered":"LA County Public Defender\u2019s Office Celebrates One Year Anniversary of Independent Defense Counsel Office Launch with Two NACo Achievement Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"

Within it\u2019s first year, the Los Angeles County Public Defenders Office\u2019s Independent Defense Counsel Office was awarded two Achievement Awards from the National Association of Counties (NACo) in the\u00a0Criminal Justice and Public Safety<\/em>\u00a0category for Enhancing Access to Justice and Enhancing Access to Treatment and Services for Community Members Living with Psychiatric Disabilities through CARE Court. The awards honor innovative, effective County government programs that strengthen services for residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cA year ago, we established the Independent Defense Counsel Office to facilitate the vigorous protection and defense of the rights, liberties, and dignity of indigent clients at the third level of conflict in criminal proceedings,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said\u00a0Public Defender Ricardo D. Garcia<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cToday we are celebrating the anniversary with two prestigious NACo Awards. IDCO\u2019s innovations have facilitated the ability to respond quickly to changes in the County\u2019s legal landscape while also promoting an increase in quality, diversity, and effectiveness among the members of the attorney panel.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The Independent Defense Counsel Office (IDCO), established on July 1st 2023, is a separately operated and ethically walled-off administration formed under the auspices of the Los Angeles County Public Defender\u2019s Office that is tasked with managing the county\u2019s panel of independently contracted attorneys to provide indigent defense services in the event of a conflict of interest by the County\u2019s two primary public defense offices. IDCO has transformed the administration of the county\u2019s independent contract attorney panel through increased efficiency, adaptability, and technological optimization by increasing training opportunities and eliminating attorney fees for panel membership.<\/p>\n

Among IDCO\u2019s earliest responsibilities was overseeing the legal representation of psychiatrically disabled community members engaged in CARE Court, a groundbreaking judicial process designed to connect California\u2019s most vulnerable mentally ill residents with intensive wraparound supportive services. By leveraging its rapid staffing response capabilities and adaptability, IDCO proved critical to realizing the county\u2019s substantially expedited CARE Court implementation.<\/p>\n

“Through dedicated efforts and collaborative partnerships, this past year has been marked by substantial achievements in providing criminal legal defense to indigent residents of LA County and supporting clients navigating the CARE Court process,\u201d<\/em>\u00a0said\u00a0Marco Saenz, Director of the Independent Defense Counsel Office<\/strong>.\u00a0\u201cOur commitment to ensuring fair representation underscores our mission of justice and compassion.”<\/em><\/p>\n

To learn more about the Los Angeles County Public Defender\u2019s Office, visit\u00a0pubdef.lacounty.gov.<\/a><\/p>\n

To learn more about the Independent Defense Counsel Office, visit\u00a0idco.lacounty.gov.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Within it\u2019s first year, the Los...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-65714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65714"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65714\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65715,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65714\/revisions\/65715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}