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Former investigator sues county

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Updated: 2/08 6:23 pm
A former investigator with the Public Defender's office is suing the county and his former employer for wrongful termination.

David Brown says he was fired for blowing the whistle on a deputy public defender who allegedly encouraged a witness to lie in a criminal case.

Public Defender Arthur Titus calls the claim completely false, saying, to his knowledge, that never happened.

In a termination letter, the county indicates Brown was fired for accessing a state criminal database called CJIS for his outside work as a private investigator.

"He did have permission to access CJIS for his employment." But, did he use it for outside use? "We're not going to get into that," said attorney Gabriel Godinez.

"I just want to clear my good name," said Brown.

The lawsuit against the county seeks back pay and damages in excess of $25,000.

Brown has filed a second claim against the county saying they defamed his good name.

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The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of KGET TV 17 - In the Spirit of the Golden Empire

sewinfool - 2/8/2012 10:53 PM
1 Vote
Right you are, Alwayswatching. The Grand Jury should take a long and hard look at the reason why so many good PD's have left that office.

Alwayswatching - 2/8/2012 8:58 PM
1 Vote
The Administrators at the Public Defender's Office absolutely knew of the unethical conduct of the attorney David Brown reported and deliberately covered it up. For Art Titus to say otherwise is simply not true. Too many people at that office know exactly what happened in this cover up and the unconcionable firing of the Investigator for reporting the attorney's behavior. The Office's actions in firing the Investigator not only deprived their office of one of it's best Investigative assets, but has exposed the county to a huge financial loss for a wrongful termination suit which the county will almost certainly lose. The counties best course of action would be an immediate replacement of that Departments administrators and settle this case before the inevitable "other victims" of this unethical behavior start coming forward, as they always do. Attorney Administrators who would "cover up" this kind of illegal or unethical behavior are just as guilty as the attorney whose behavior was reported. Public Defender's are supposed to protect those people who must use their services not be victimized by them.
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