Wednesday, March 1, 2017
Page 4
Supervisors Again Postpone Action on Public Defender Funding Request
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Board of Supervisors yesterday again postponed action on a request by Acting Public Defender Kelly Emling that her department be authorized to spend up to $15,000 to defend one of her deputies against State Bar disciplinary charges.
A county spokesperson said the matter was put over to next Wednesday at Emling’s request.
The request that the county pay for the defense of Deputy Public Defender Delia Metoyer was originally scheduled to be considered by the board on Feb. 14 but has now been postponed three times, all at the acting public defender’s request.
Metoyer is accused of abandoning a client, disobeying a court order, and failing to report sanctions to the State Bar within 30 days as required by rule.
Although the funds would come from the office’s current budget, Government Code §995.6 requires the board’s approval for the county to pay for the defense of an employee in an administrative proceeding.
The funding may be approved, the statute says, if the proceeding was brought as a result of a job-related act or omission, and the act or omission was “in good faith, without actual malice and in the apparent interests of the public entity.”
Copyright 2017, Metropolitan News Company