How justice is sold to the lowest bidder in rural California

The law firm of Fitzgerald, Alvarez and Ciummo has earned the nickname: the WalMart of public defense.

For three decades, the firm has won county contracts to provide criminal defense to poor people in rural areas of the state. This is done through aggressively low bids.

Old iterations on the firm’s website ask local politicians what they could do with all the money they could save for public safety: “Better schools? Better fire protection? More police? Improved roads? More parks?”

Today, nearly half of California counties pay private attorneys and firms to represent poor people in criminal cases. Most of them do so through what is known as a “fixed fee” contract, meaning they pay a fixed amount regardless of how many cases the attorneys handle or how much time they spend on each case.

As CalMatters investigative reporter Anat Rubin details these arrangements thus clearly demotivating investigation and lawsuits that they are banned in other parts of the country.

But they thrive in California.

In San Benito County, for example, a state evaluation found that Ciummo’s attorneys hardly talk to their clients and rarely file legal claims on their behalf.

The defendants asked them to challenge the prosecution’s evidence, to cross-examine witnesses, to do something real to challenge law enforcement’s account of the crime. Instead, they pushed almost everyone into agreements.

Even some law enforcement leaders — the people trying to put Ciummo’s clients behind bars — are raising alarm. They say they are not challenged as they should be in a functioning system.

• Joel BuckinghamSan Benito County District Attorney: “Police officers have to make mistakes sometimes.”

Read the full story.

This is the second part of Anat’s series looking at the lack of key safeguards against wrongful conviction in California. Be sure to read her first piece, The man who didn’t solve a murder.

On Monday, the Trump administration and California Republicans laid out their case challenging Proposition 50 before a panel of federal judges that began legal battle over voter-approved gerrymandering efforts in CaliforniaMaya S. Miller and Mikhail Zinstein of CalMatters write.

Republicans say congressional maps from Prop. 50 violated the 14th and 15th Amendments because race, they said, was used as a factor in drawing district boundaries. They are seeking a preliminary ban on the cards before Dec. 19 — the date when candidates can begin collecting signatures to get on the 2026 primary ballot — to temporarily ban the cards from being used in elections.

Supporters of Prop. 50 argued that the maps were drawn to create a partisan advantage for Democrats, and it was only incidental if the maps conferred any overwhelming influence on certain ethnic or racial groups.

Opponents of Prop. 50 face an uphill battle, given that the U.S. Supreme Court recently upheld Texas’ redrawn maps, overturning a lower court’s finding that the Texas Republican Party had committed unconstitutional racial gerrymandering.

Read more here.

Members of the California Legislature brought together policymakers and scientists during a joint environmental committee hearing last week that examined how the state could address the Tijuana River sewage crisisDeborah Brennan of CalMatters reports.

During the hearing, lawmakers and others looked at how neglect, failing infrastructure and industrial waste led to the decades-long environmental disaster. They discussed potential mitigation solutions such as updating air quality standards; improving working conditions for those exposed to pollution; and hold companies accountable for their role in polluting the river.

• State Senator Katherine BlakespearDemocrat from Encinitas, who chaired the hearing: “What’s happening in the Tijuana River Valley is an international environmental disaster that undermines everything California stands for. … Sewage flowing into San Diego County’s coastline is poisoning our air and water, harming public health, closing beaches and killing marine life.”

This year, the US renovated and expanded a wastewater treatment plant in San Diego, while Mexico renovated a plant near the border. But more work is still needed, including on the Imperial Beach shoreline, which has remained closed for years. On Monday, the US and Mexico signed an agreement dealing with the crisis.

Read more here.

In October, state Sen. Scott Wiener announced his candidacy for Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress, entering a race that highlights a broader debate about the future direction of democratic leadership. Maya and CalMatters Director of Video Strategy Robert Meeks have a video segment for the San Francisco Democrat as part of our partnership with PBS SoCal. Watch it here.

SoCalMatters airs at 5:58pm weekdays on PBS SoCal.