New public defender system begins to take shape

OGDEN — A list of 14 names has been prepared for the Weber County Commission to consider for the new public defender system.

Carrying some names relatively new to the area, the list is also surprising to some for the names it does not include, such as Bernie Allen and Roy Cole, 29- and 5-year veterans of the current Weber County Public Defenders Association.

Cole declined comment, while Allen said, “I feel like I’ve lost a member of my family. After all these years it doesn’t feel like a just reward.”

“The county is making a mistake with the new public defender system, a cutback when most other counties are increasing their public defender appropriations,” Allen said.

“This is what happens when politicians make decisions I guess … It always scares me when legal decisions fall to politicians,” he said.
The commission disbanded the 40-year-old PDA in a cost-cutting move.

The hopefuls, whom the commission will deliberate over at its Dec. 15 meeting, number seven for district court, including current public defenders Ryan Bushell, Martin Gravis, Steve Laker, Jim Retallick and former public defender Randy Marshall, all of whom have offices in Ogden. New from downstate practices are Jeff Bissegger of Salt Lake City and Sean Young of Layton.

The juvenile court prospective defenders include four Ogden-based attorneys already doing the job: Gary Barr, Jennifer Clark, Jon Pace and Sharon Sipes. Carole Mortenson is also on the list. Information about her practice was not available.

Randy Richards, of the Ogden firm that founded the PDA, is named to continue as appeals attorney, joined by newcomer Samuel Newton, a Weber State University professor.

“As you might imagine, those who have been a part of the PDA and will not receive contracts are unhappy and understandably so,” said Mike Bouwhuis, currently of the PDA and hired by the commission in September to contract as coordinator of the new public defender system.

“I count myself and the others fortunate to be able to receive contracts,” he said. “There are some in the legal community here who thought or anticipated that there would be a complete housecleaning. I don’t think that was necessary or desirable.”

Bouwhuis and County Personnel Director Brad Dee put together the list of 14, Commissioner Craig Dearden said, which commissioners will see for the first time at their Dec. 15 meeting.

“It’s possible the list might change as the dollar amounts for each contract is discussed,” he said, adding that a Jan. 1 startup for the new system is still the target date.

Dee and Bouwhuis were given a budget of $1,086,000 and told “that’s what they had to work with,” Dearden said.

The PDA has received a $1.3 million appropriation in recent years, which appeared ready to approach $1.6 million for calendar 2010. The plan is to save money with individual contracts instead of the collective PDA contract that included secretarial costs and other overhead, sometimes even rent.