Thursday, Oct. 23, 2003 | 9:33 a.m.
The man in charge of the embattled Clark County public defender's office since October 2001 is retiring from the job.
Marcus Cooper on Wednesday announced his retirement effective Jan. 2.
Cooper said at age 55 it is time to move on and let a younger leader take the reins.
"At some point you start assessing where you are in your career," Cooper said. "I think that the office is in a position to make significant improvement, but it needs the commitment of leadership for the long term. I'm not prepared to make that commitment for another three to five years."
Cooper worked as a public defender for 24 years before being chosen to take charge of the office.
"I believe we have a core of attorneys who are dedicated to affording the indigent accused the highest level of defense we can provide them, given the tremendous number of cases and financial deficiencies we face," Cooper said.
"We send attorneys to nationally recognized seminars and programs. We do community outreach to help our clients beyond the legal cases. I can sleep comfortably knowing we do the best based with the hand we are dealt."
County Manager Thom Reilly said his office did not push for Cooper's resignation. He said Cooper has led a successful, if embryonic, effort to transform the public defender's office.
"It's been a pretty tough two years making those changes," Reilly said.
It will probably take another three or four years to implement the changes that still have to be made, Reilly said. Reilly said Cooper, as an insider within the public defender's office, was probably better positioned to make some of the changes happen so far.
But, Reilly said, it is probably time to bring in someone from outside the public defender's office. Reilly said his office will seek a public defender with a track record of building a strong public defender program.
"We're looking at doing a national search to build upon the momentum," he said. "Now you've got to implement (proposed reforms), which requires an administrator."
Nevada law might make a national search difficult. The law requires the public defender to be licensed in the state.
"We're exploring the option to ask the Supreme Court to do at least a limited license, so we can get somebody in with a lot of experience," he said.
If an out-of-state lawyer is selected, Reilly wants that person to receive a two-year limited license to practice in Nevada, giving that person the time to take the Nevada Bar exam and obtain a state license.
When Cooper was appointed to the office by Reilly, Cooper's critics said he was part of the problem in an office that has taken so few indigent defense cases to trial.
A report by a nationally known research agency, the Spangenberg Group, in January 2001 was critical of the county public defender's office for bringing just 156 of 28,898 indigent defense cases, or 0.6 percent, to trial in 1999 when the national average was 4 to 7 percent.
A report released in April by the National Legal Aid and Defender Association -- a report called for by Cooper -- outlined similar deficiencies within the public defender's office.
Gary Peck, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Nevada, said the ACLU has long been at the forefront of the move to reform the public defender's office.
"I appreciate Marcus' efforts to begin the process of moving the public defender's office in a positive direction, and I hope whomever replaces him will continue down that path," Peck said.
Peck applauded Cooper's efforts to bring change to the office by enlisting the help of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association.
Among the office's deficiencies is a need for greater training, better supervision and more aggressive representation, Peck said.
While there are very talented and committed attorneys in the office, Peck said, only institutional changes will ensure that attorneys get the support they need to be successful.
"A lot of the problems are rooted in the culture of the agency and the way lawyers too often seem to misunderstand their role in the criminal justice system," Peck said, noting he supports a national search for the post.
Peck said he is glad Clark County has decided to conduct a national search for Cooper's replacement.
The National Legal Aid and Defender Association's report led to the creation of the Indigent Advisory Committee, on which Cooper serves.
"We had our second meeting this afternoon (Wednesday) on how to go about implementing changes," Cooper said.
He said that despite what his critics may say, he is not retiring to run away from the committee's potential conclusions.
"We are not prepared to issue a report yet. I can say the committee is very much in favor of the county manager's decision to do national search for my replacement. We are hopeful and encouraged by this," Cooper said.
As for not taking many indigent defense cases to trial, Cooper said there is no quick-fix remedy for that, nor can his office set some predetermined goal on a number of cases to take before a judge.
"It's on a case-by-case basis," Cooper said. "Yes, I would like to see an improvement on the number of cases we take to trial."
The office's trial rate rose by 11 percent from January through November 2002, compared with the same period in 2001, Reilly said.
Another factor in so few cases going to trial are the good deals offered by the district attorney's office, Cooper said.
"Deputy DAs are making the kind of offers that often are in our client's best interest to consider," Cooper said. "In the majority of cases, the facts are overwhelmingly against our clients.
"Plea bargaining is an integral part of cases, especially when you are dealing with a large volume. The prosecutor's office knows you can't take every case to trial. In many cases it is in the best interest of our clients to take the plea bargain rather than rolling the dice."
Cooper technically does not have the actual 30 years needed for county workers to retire, but by Jan. 26 he will have 26-plus years on the job and, over the last nine years, he has purchased through payroll deductions three-plus years to reach the required retirement qualification.
Cooper says he will receive a standard benefit package including separation pay and unused vacation and sick time. Although he utilized a number of sick days for back surgery several years ago, he says he expects to get a check for about 700 to 800 hours worth of accrued sick time.
Cooper receives an annual salary of $145,194 and annual longevity pay of $21,518, county officials said.
Cooper's separation check is expected to be about $105,000, county finance officials said. That is assuming he does not use a significant amount of vacation time or sick days between now and the end of January.
By Jan. 26, Cooper will have about 800 hours of accrued sick leave and is entitled to 86 percent of that, which comes to about $49,700. As a supervisor, he receives 12 weeks severance pay, which is $33,500. He will get a pro-rated amount of longevity pay of about $7,000. He is expected to have four weeks of unused annual leave which comes to about $15,000, county officials said.
He says his daughter and his only grandchild live in Italy, and he wants a chance to spend time with them.
"After January, I'll take a few months off, then decide what I want to do," Cooper said. "I plan to get involved in volunteer programs. I want to remain active in the legal community.
"Criminal defense? Certainly. It's pretty much all I know. I still have a lot to offer."
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