Ex-P.D. leaves San Berdoo a bit early

Now an update, of sorts.

Ex-public defender opts to leave deputy post early (may require registration):

John Roth, the San Bernardino County public defender demoted in February after hiring a lawyer with a criminal record, has quit his job with the county... Roth has accepted a similar post in Sacramento County...

Roth, a veteran local defense lawyer and a former supervisor in his office, became the public defender in June 2000...

Roth was put on administrative leave in January after he hired Geoffrey Newman, a private lawyer who had been convicted on misdemeanor charges related to soliciting inmates to hire certain bail-bond firms...

Newman was fired Jan. 27, four days after starting work.

Roth accepted a lesser position as a deputy public defender in February and was to remain until his retirement, then scheduled for October.

The man had some accomplishments to his name before his misstep. Perhaps he's leaving in his own time with a bit of his dignity intact, perhaps it took him just this long to line up a new job. I'm not unsympathetic.