Whether we are public defenders, paralegals, investigators, support staff, or social workers, we are
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We could not be prouder to congratulate Mary Vasquez on her appointment to serve as a Judge in the Fresno County Superior Court. Although we are sad to see her go, the bench, the legal community, and the community at large is very lucky to have her.
Thank you, Mary for all you have done for our clients and the office. You will definitely be leaving our office in a better place and will be greatly missed!
Congratulations to Judge Muñoz Figueroa on your swearing in this morning. We are so proud to have had you in our office and know you will continue to serve our community well!
We are thrilled to congratulate our very own Chief Defense Attorney David Munoz Figueroa on his appointment to serve as Judge in the Fresno County Superior Court!
The bench, legal community, and the members of our Fresno community are lucky to have David sit as a Superior Court Judge. For the last 16 years, David has changed so many of our clients lives for the better by giving them a voice and leaving no stone unturned in his pursuit of Justice.
https://www.gov.ca.gov/2023/05/19/governor-newsom-announces-judicial-appointments-5-19-23/
We are grateful to the Fresno State University Social Work Department for their ongoing support and collaboration. Today our office celebrated our two student interns who have been with us since the Fall of 2022. Congratulations to Lisa G., as she graduates with her Masters in Social Work, and Ixchel L., as she graduates with her Bachelors in Social Work.
We had a great time this morning, partnering with Poverello House and helping our homeless clients clear their warrants. Another day of helping our community move forward with our Public Defender team.
Our Attorneys and Defense Investigators had a great time at Fresno State University's Criminology Career and Networking Fair! We are always excited to hire and foster local talent from our community.
Just a glimpse of what our Office does on a daily basis. Proud of our Clean Slate team for helping so many community members get a second chance in life. Congratulations Brett on all your hard work!
Those who go through the criminal justice system, serve their time, and reenter society encounter significant obstacles in finding gainful employment, furthe...
We were thrilled and honored to swear in six amazing attorneys in our office this morning. Each of them has worked for us as a post bar intern and will be hired as a full-time Defense Attorney. Each has shown her commitment to defending our constitution, fighting for justice, and protecting the most vulnerable members of our community. We are so proud of all of you. Savor this moment and bask in this huge accomplishment! Congratulations ladies!
We are still searching for Defense Attorneys for our Post Conviction team, funded by a grant from the Board of State and Community Corrections. Potential to move into permanent position at the end of term. Apply today!
This Sunday we commemorate Juneteenth: Over two years after President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation ending slavery in the United States, Juneteenth marks the anniversary of the day that thousands of African Americans were finally freed in Galveston, Texas. On this day we can look back and see how far we've come, and recommit ourselves to the work that remains toward equality and justice for all.
Happy Pride Month! The Fresno County Public Defender stands for and celebrates the rights of our entire community.
Congratulations Judge Negin! We are so proud of you and proud to have had you in our office. We know you will continue to serve our community well!
We had a great time at our site visit with Fresno State AANAPISI's criminology students. Thank you to Camille Slack, Adam Balto and Linda Garcia for giving helpful information on the Paralegal and Investigative Units. Also, thank you to Travis Ishikawa, Ryan Yoo, and Roy Park who answered questions from the students on the Attorney Panel. We look forward to continuing this partnership in upcoming semesters, and seeing some graduates apply to work with us in the future!
Come visit our Clean Slate program's table at this job fair on Friday April 22. Learn how to clean up your record to reduce those barriers to employment.
See flyer below for Fresno City College's Rising Scholars Symposium. Our Clean Slate Attorney Carmen Romero will be presenting on 4/21 from 10:30-11:45am on “Impact of Criminal Convictions and How to Clear a Criminal History”
Link to register: https://web.cvent.com/event/a0a5670b-60ee-4cee-adac-1a279d2a7c59/summary?RefId=SymposiumHome
Our Office had a great time at Fresno State's Criminology Career Day! We are looking forward to filling some employee and internship positions from the bright talent here in town.
We could not be prouder of our very own Stephanie Negin on her appointment to the Fresno County Superior Court by Governor Gavin Newsom. This is the first time a Public Defender was appointed directly from our office to the bench since the Honorable Edward Sarkisian, Jr. in 1987!
Stephanie has been a dedicated and loyal member of the Public Defender’s Office since 2007. Stephanie will bring a wealth of experience, knowledge, and compassion to the bench. We will certainly miss her, but her dedication and commitment in the pursuit of Justice will serve our community well. Congratulations Stephanie!
A local immigration attorney and public defender are joining the Fresno County Superior Court bench: Virna Santos and Stephanie Negin.
See below for our upcoming Expungement Clinics! Link to register:
https://form.jotform.com/220457644834157
We were happy to be able to send so many attorneys to the 45th annual Capital Case Defense Seminar in Monterey. Put on by CACJ and CPDA, it is the largest death penalty seminar in the nation. Keep on keeping those skills sharp--and great to see some alumni in this shot too!
The Fresno County Public Defender’s Office is proud to be a part of a collaborative effort with the other justice partners to prevent future drunk driving and its dangerous consequences. We unequivocally support the use of rehabilitation and treatment in this collaborative court as a means to significantly reduce DUI recidivism. Congrats to our graduates!
A Fresno County Superior Court program is aiming to cut down on drunk driving while giving offenders the tools to overcome addiction.
Big shoutout to our awesome defense team Maribel Romo, Marina Pincus, Pazong Vang, Kristen Herrera, and Jamie Kaltenbach who made sure that justice was served!
The defendant was facing life in prison without the possibility of parole, had he been found guilty of two murders
Congratulations to our Defense Social Work Practitioner, Randi Balderama who was awarded a scholarship from the Central California Area Social Services Consortium (CCASSC) for the research and findings she completed during her internship at our office! Her thesis, titled “Mitigation Use in the Resentencing of Juveniles Formerly Sentenced to Life Without Parole,” is groundbreaking for the field of social work. A research project such as Randi’s has never been done in Fresno County and has been critical in expanding social work services within our office. We are proud of you Randi and proud to have you in our office!
Big thank you to our Social Worker Unit for organizing this year's Adopt a Family! Also thanks to everyone in our office who came through with overwhelming generosity--we had more donations than were wished for!
Hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season.
Our office will be closed for the Thanksgiving Holiday from Wednesday 11/24/2021 at 12:00 pm until Friday 11/25/2021 at 5:00 pm.
We will reopen and return to our normal business hours on Monday 11/29/2021 at 8:00 am.
On September 17th, during the annual Pacific Juvenile Defender Center's statewide conference, our very own Senior Defense Attorney JoAnna Edwards was given the Juvenile Defender of the Year Award. This is a huge honor and a recognition of all the hard work and tenacious advocacy that JoAnna does on behalf of the youth of Fresno County. Our kids are so lucky to have her. We are proud of her and proud to have such a great advocate in our office!
FELONY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE COURTROOMS ARE MOVING BACK
Effective 8/9/21:
Department 10 will be heard in Dept 95
Department 11 will be heard in Dept 96
Departments 95 and 96 are located at the North Jail, 1265 M Street, Fresno, CA 93721. If you are unsure where to be, look for posted signs outside these courtrooms.
Congratulations to our new Public Defender Antoinette Taillac! Your tenacity and compassion will lead the Fresno County Public Defender's Office into a bright and just future.
As of June 15, 2021, we are now open to the public on Tuesday through Thursday from 8am-12pm and 1-5pm. We are still closed to the public on Mondays and Fridays. If you have questions about your case or need to contact your attorney you may still call us Monday through Friday at (559) 600-3546, or (559) 600-6155 for Juvenile matters. Members of the public who are not vaccinated should be masked when entering indoor areas and maintain social distancing. Members of the public who are vaccinated may enter without being masked. We take pride in providing you excellent representation and will work with you to make your commitments to the court while maintaining your health.
Today marks one year since George Floyd was murdered. Today we remember him, and continue the fight for accountability in our justice system.
As President Obama stated this morning, “When injustice runs deep, progress takes time. But if we can turn words into action and action into meaningful reform, we will, in the words of James Baldwin, ‘cease fleeing from reality and begin to change it.’”
Emergency rental assistance is now available for Fresno County residents who have been unable to pay rent due to the financial impacts of COVID-19. Click below for more details!
For questions email [email protected] or call 559-515-4700.
https://fresnorentalhelp.com/
Fresno County Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). Rental assistance will be provided to residents who have faced financial hardship due to COVID-19.
Our office will be closed tomorrow March 31, to celebrate Cesar Chavez Day.
Cesar Chavez knew firsthand the struggles of the nation’s poorest and most powerless workers, who labored to put food on the nation’s tables while often going hungry themselves. Not covered by minimum wage laws, many made as little as 40 cents an hour, and did not qualify for unemployment insurance. Previous attempts to unionize farm workers had failed, as California’s powerful agricultural industry fought back with all the weight of their money and political power.
Chavez was inspired by the nonviolent civil disobedience pioneered by Gandhi in India, and practiced by Martin Luther King, Jr. Chavez founded the National Farm Workers Association (later the United Farm Workers of America). After five years of striking against California's grape growers that expanded into a nationwide boycott, including a 25 day fast, and a 340 mile march from Delano to Sacramento, he won important victories to raise pay and improve working conditions for farm workers in the late 1960s and 1970s. In 1994, President Clinton posthumously awarded Cesar the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor.
“I am convinced that the truest act of courage, the strongest act of manliness, is to sacrifice ourselves for others in a totally non-violent struggle for justice.” - Cesar Chavez (March 31, 1927 to April 23, 1993)
For International Women's Day, we remember Clara Shortridge Foltz (July 16, 1849 – September 2, 1934). Not only was she the first female lawyer on the West Coast after helping to open the California Bar to women, she was the first person to propose the concept of a public defender system in 1893.
Seventy years before the Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states are required to provide counsel to indigent defendants under the Sixth Amendment, Clara Foltz recognized the inequities of the criminal justice system and championed the radical idea of the need for balance with the public prosecutor. She lobbied her public defender bill in 32 states where it was first passed in California in 1921.
"Everything in retrospect seems weird, phantasmal, and unreal. I peer back across the misty years into that era of prejudice and limitation, when a woman lawyer was a joke… but the story of my triumphs will eventually disclose that though the battle has been long and hard-fought it was worthwhile."
As Black History Month comes to a close, we'd like to honor Jane Bolin, the country's first black female judge when she was sworn in in 1939. She was also the first black woman to graduate from Yale Law School, and join the New York City Bar Association.
Throughout her career she was a champion of civil rights and a fierce advocate for children of color. In family court she ended the segregationist assignment of probation officers on the basis of race, and led the charge to require child care agencies to accept children regardless of their race. She also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to support the Wiltwyck School for Boys, a holistic home for neglected and delinquent African American boys whose needs were unaddressed by state agencies. After her retirement she served as a volunteer reading instructor in New York City public schools, and was appointed to the Regents Review Committee of the New York State Board of Regents, a public servant for life.
“Those gains we have made were never graciously and generously granted. We have to fight every inch of the way, and in the face of sometimes insufferable humiliations.” - Jane Bolin
April 11, 1908 to January 8, 2007
Our Office is celebrating a huge win for our kids and our Juvenile Unit! Today the California Supreme Court ruled that SB 1391 is constitutional, which prohibits 14 and 15 year-olds being transferred to the adult criminal system.
“The opinion means the state will not return to a practice that is harmful to youth and communities. Now the state will focus on rehabilitating young people. Research shows that rehabilitation works: Youth who are sent to the adult system miss out on the treatment, education, and services offered in the juvenile system. Youth kept in the juvenile system are less likely to commit new crimes.”
(San Francisco, CA – February 25, 2021) In a highly anticipated opinion filed in O.G. v. Superior Court today, the California Supreme Court unanimously upheld S.B. 1391 against challenges to its constitutionality. The measure, enacted in 2018, prohibits the transfer of 14 and 15-year-olds to the a...
Congratulations to Elizabeth Diaz on your retirement after over 30 years of dedication and service to the Fresno County Public Defender’s Office! As the first female Public Defender in the over 50 year history of this office, you led with a fierce devotion to both our clients and employees. You picked this office up when it was struggling and left it in a strong position to move forward. We look forward to continuing your legacy.
July 2, 1990 through February 19, 2021
Gung hei fat choy! Happy Lunar New Year! Wishing you prosperity and good year.
In addition to our office continuing to be closed for in person appointments, our phone lines will be closed at noon today and we will not return until Monday Dec 28th. Happy Holidays everyone!
Our office is still closed to the public due to the pandemic, but our phone system will also be closed starting tomorrow Nov 25th at noon and will open again on Monday Nov 30th. Hope everyone has a fun and safe Thanksgiving!
2135 Fresno Street, Ste 100
Fresno, CA
93721
| Monday | 8am - 12pm |
| 1pm - 5pm | |
| Tuesday | 8am - 12pm |
| 1pm - 5pm | |
| Wednesday | 8am - 12pm |
| 1pm - 5pm | |
| Thursday | 8am - 12pm |
| 1pm - 5pm | |
| Friday | 8am - 12pm |
| 1pm - 5pm |
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