Legal News

Internal Affairs deems defender's actions "very poor judgment" but not fraud

By Richard Binder

A draft report from county investigators faulted Alternate Public Defender Timothy Chandler for ?very poor judgment? for his role in a real estate deal involving his wife and a lawyer he hired, but it concluded there was insufficient evidence that he committed fraud.

That conclusion, reached by investigators from the county's Office of Internal Affairs, is the only portion of the report the county made public after a request by The San Diego Union-Tribune under the state Public Records Act.

Chandler announced Jan. 26 that he was retiring from the county after a dozen years as the head of the alternate defender's office. That office represents indigent people charged with crimes who can't be represented by the primary public defender office.

It was unclear whether the report and its conclusions had any role in his decision to leave. Chandler could not be reached for comment last week.

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Full post as published by Legal Pad | LA on February 17, 2009 (boomark / email).