Amid attorney shortage, Alameda County program ensuring defendants get represented in court sees leadership shakeup

OAKLAND The leader of a project pairing low-income criminal defendants with free attorneys is out of her job after a shortage of lawyers in Alameda County delayed prosecutions and left defendants languishing for weeks at the Santa Rita Jail Andrea Zambrana no longer leads the Court Appointed Attorneys Undertaking the Alameda County Bar Association s leaders verified this week The effort which is administered by the bar association pays for private attorneys to represent defendants who cannot be represented by the Alameda County Masses Defender s Office due to conflicts of interest Related Articles She had no known enemies or reason to fear But her East Bay killing appeared targeted police say Man gets years for trafficking runaway teen in East Bay Oakland man whose dogs killed his close friend walks away from criminal charges Assata Shakur a fugitive Black militant sought by the US since dies in Cuba An East Bay woman went on a date with a guy she just met ended up dead when he crashed car and ran police say The change was first revealed in an internal email obtained by this news organization to several members of the project on Sept The bar association s leaders did not say this week whether Zambrana was forced out or if she left of her own accord Zambrana declined to comment to this news organization when reached via text Her former duties are expected to be split between three people Longtime East Bay attorney Annie Beles whose father was a founding member of the operation was named interim director and began working in that role within the past week She will share leadership duties with Cynthia Chandler the bar association s chief operating officer and Hadassah Hayashi the association s CEO The shakeup comes amid a monthslong shortage that left defendants waiting for weeks to get representation prompting a few defendants to openly complain to judges about the delays at their hearings and at least one person to accept a jail sentence without first speaking to an attorney The situation became so problematic that the ACLU of Northern California sent a letter to Alameda County Superior Court Presiding Judge Thomas Nixon earlier this year demanding changes while decrying a clear violation of constitutional rights exacerbating the cycle of incarceration and injustice In one incident a -year-old San Leandro man presented up to court four times from June through July only to be explained to come back each time because the judge had no attorney for him according to court documents When he didn t show up for a fifth hearing on July a judge issued a warrant for his arrest Another man in mid-July haggled with a prosecutor in open court over a anticipated jail sentence for an alleged probation violation ultimately agreeing to a -day sentence without having first consulted with an attorney At its worst the backlog of felony defendants at Santa Rita Jail waiting for attorneys exceeded people Chandler revealed Friday while multiple others struggled to find representation while out of custody That backlog has since been reduced to about felony defendants regardless of their custody status No backlog remains for juvenile or misdemeanor cases Chandler mentioned Part of that shortage appears to have been addressed with direct appointments by judges from the bench an uncommon practice that is often avoided over concerns of favoritism swaying those decisions As of Thursday between seven and attorneys had been directly appointed by judges over the past two months explained Paul Rosynsky an Alameda County Superior Court spokesperson In a comment Beles commented the moment called for bold action Clients cannot wait and our district cannot wait explained Beles who has stopped accepting new clients through the campaign while serving in her new role We are assigning cases expanding the panel and building the quota needed to ensure every person has the excellent defense that CAAP attorneys provide This week initiative leaders declared a new campaign called Operation Clear the Backlog to completely fix the situation It is working to expand the number of attorneys available to take cases claiming at least a dozen new attorneys are currently being vetted for the operation At least attorneys have already been added so far this year Chandler disclosed We are proud of the progress made through the efforts of our staff and panel attorneys Hayashi noted in a declaration We are confident in our path forward as we move toward hiring a permanent CAAP director Presiding Judge Nixon noted he was excited to learn that the initiative had increased the number of attorneys in its fold He also mentioned Beles is well known to the judges of Alameda County and we all wish her well in her new assignment An attorney for more than years Beles often accepts several of the region s the bulk high-profile and complex criminal cases The Oakland native has represented dozens of homicide defendants including Mark Sanders the lead defendant in the December shooting death of Oakland police officer Tuan Le Lawrence Denard the man convicted of killing -year-old Carlos Nava during a gang war in and Remon McDaniel who was identified guilty of the killing of Laney College learner Isaac Jamal White Beles often says her law career began at the age of doing anything and everything whatever was needed to advocacy the office of her father attorney Robert Beles according to her website We sincerely hope that the experience and dedication she brings to CAAP will development in substantive improvement in the availability of qualified attorneys for timely appointment to those awaiting counsel Nixon disclosed Jakob Rodgers is a senior current news reporter Call text or send him an encrypted message via Signal at - - or email him at jrodgers bayareanewsgroup com