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Funeral of Pima Co. Public Defender
I went to the funeral of Bob Hooker, Pima Co. Public Defender, today. He was killed by somebody drag racing at 100 mph plus down a narrow urban street.
Tucson Community Center donated one of its halls for the event, and it was needed. I'd guess there were 600+ people there. Hooker was VERY well respected in the community, and had practiced here for decades.
One speaker was his former secretary, who'd been his ass't when he was a Superior Court judge, and went with him into private practice. She said he would go over to the courthouse for some motions in a paying case, and come back with some indigent to whom he'd volunteered services. When she pointed out that this guy wasn't going to help pay the overhead, Hooker would always respond, "I just can't help myself."
A damn good man (he was killed on his 44th wedding anniversary, to give one indication) and an excellent attorney. He and his deputy Bob Hirsch turned the office around from a demoralized and largely ineffective one, into one of the top five in the country. Instead of farming out murder cases, they brought in experienced attorneys, kept the cases in-house, and saved the county $22 million a year. As a result, the county had no problem giving them very nice offices, on the highest floor of a 22 story building, in the recently-vacated suites that used to belong to the oldest firm in town. Let's just say you don't see many PD offices with their type of accomodations!
Comments
sFarming out government cases to private firms is, as often as not, as scam whereby elected officials reward their buddies with tax money or money that should otherwise be going to the government. Just look at the tobacco lawsuits that were allegedly brought by the state attorneys general.
Most states just "happened" to also be represented by well-connected private attorneys who managed to collect billions in fees that should otherwise have been going to the states. Heck, the Texas Attorney General pled guilty to back-dating a contract to help get one of his private lawyer buddies onto the tobacco settlement gravy train. Even served time in prison for it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dan_Morales
Posted by: Letalis Maximus, Esq. at April 8, 2008 05:49 AM