Valley County Public Defender

I noticed on the Bar Association website that the Valley County Commissioners are looking for bids for the public defender contract.

According to Prosecutor Matt Williams, Valley County is contemplating either bringing the public defender in house as a county employee, or appointing a person to be the public defender and negotiating a rate of pay for the services to be provided. The Board of County Commissioners will then interview the 3-5 names sent to them by a screening committee. The County is also considering appointing a conflict public defender.

The list of candidates, to my knowledge, is:

Merideth Arnold (McCall lawyer);
Todd Wilcox (current PD);
J.D. Hallin (SCOIDBlog's own);
Alex Briggs (from former Canyon Co. PDs);
Wes Wilhite (Caldwell lawyer);
Michael Robinson (see below);
Jared Martens (Boise lawyer);
Kenneth Arment (Valley Co. Deputy Prosecutor and fellow Mt. Rainier H.S. [Des Moines, WA] graduate. Go Rams!)

I also noted in the Bar's website that McCall attorney Michael Robinson, whose bar status is listed as "Disability Inactive," is looking for an associate "with at least two years' criminal defense experience, including felonies" to start at 30 hours per week, $30,000 per year, no medical benefits.

Well, that sounds like a pretty good job. Except, I don't know that you could do the PD contract in 30 hours a week. But, if you were able to, you could spend the extra time skiing, provided someone gave you a lift ticket and you were careful to not have an accident.