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PROVO — A Utah County prosecutor faxed a letter to the County Commission that called the public defender's office "a huge embarrassment," according to a motion filed by attorneys for a man convicted of murder.
In a letter that was faxed to the Utah County Commission on Sept. 17, "a taxpayer in Utah County" called the Utah County Public Defender's Office "an embarrassment to Utah County" and "a huge waste of money." It called the attorneys employed by the office "a huge joke."
In a motion to disqualify the trial judge that was denied Tuesday, attorneys Dana Facemyer and M. Paige Benjamin used the letter to back up their client's claim of ineffective counsel during trial.
The letter specifically referred to the trial of Ramon Somoza, 31, who was found guilty of murder, a first-degree felony; obstructing justice, a second-degree felony; and abuse or desecration of a dead human body, a third-degree felony, by a jury in September.
Before sentencing, Somoza filed a notice of intent to claim ineffective assistance of counsel and the hearing was continued. Soon after, the attorney who represented Somoza, Barbara Gonzales, filed a motion to withdraw as counsel, which was granted.
Somoza's new attorneys claim that they have a video that shows deputy Utah County attorney Donna Kelly faxing the letter. According to the motion, Kelly denied writing the letter but admitted to faxing it.
Monkeys would do a much better job and would be way cheaper.
–Letter
The letter states that Somoza had three "tax paid attorneys" at trial and reported that one attorney "acted like a three-year-old child stomping around the court room throwing temper tantrums when she didn't get her way." Another repeatedly fell asleep, and the third "kept doing improper things" that the judge had ordered him not to do, the letter states.
"The three of them acted like complete idiots during the whole trial," the letter states. "You don't have to take my word for this — just ask anyone who was there."
The letter concludes by comparing the public defense attorneys to primates.
"If the Commissioners want to save money, they should close the public defender's office and get a bunch of trained chimpanzees to represent criminals," the letter reads. "The monkeys would do a much better job and would be way cheaper."
Somoza's attorneys allege that the letter supports Somoza's claim of ineffective assistance of counsel and ask in the motion that 4th District Judge Lynn Davis be disqualified so that he can act as a fact witness on the claims set forth in the letter.
"In the case at hand, the defendant is not alleging 'bias' nor 'prejudice' but is alleging 'conflict of interest' because the trial judge now is a potential fact witness," the motion states.
The motion to disqualify Davis was ultimately denied by 4th District Judge David Mortensen.
Neither Kelly, Facemyer, Benjamin, the Utah County Attorney's Office nor the Utah County Public Defenders Office have returned calls for comment.
Email:emorgan@ksl.com
