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Public Defender Ed Frachiseur retires
From major felonies to miscellaneous misdemeanors, from juvenile offenses to cases for child protection, as well as mental commitments, attorney Ed Frachiseur has worked them all. After nearly 30 years in the legal profession in Mountain Home, Frachiseur is no stranger to criminal law, serving at various times as both a prosecutor and as a public defender for Elmore County. Now the attorney is preparing to retire from government service, but he's not quite ready to give up the profession entirely. Frachiseur will return to private practice, operating out of his office at 400 W. 7th South St. in Mountain Home.
Frachiseur began his service to Elmore County when he served as deputy prosecutor under Alan Wilson from 1976 to 1980. He returned to the prosecutor's office again in 1985, this time serving as deputy prosecutor under Gene Gustafson.
But for the past 14 years he has served as the county's public defender, seeing the case load increase to nearly 1,000 cases a year. "Over the last 30 years we averaged about one homicide every year and a half," said Frachiseur, noting he had worked maybe 13 to 15 homicide cases, "now two more."
During the past year, the public defender had two homicide cases go to trial, one right after the other. While he was preparing to go to court on those two cases, there was yet another individual charged with murder.
But, he pointed out, murder is a crime with the lowest repeat offense rate. In most cases, the people involved are related, he said, with many incidents stemming from family fights.
Frachiseur is one of a handful of attorneys in the state with death penalty certification. He explained, anyone can prosecute, but in a capital case, where the state asks for the death penalty, the appointed defense counsel must qualify to defend people. The state also says that every person facing the death penalty must have two lawyers for the defense. That means that in addition to the public defender, the county must hire another attorney at $75-$100 an hour to represent the individual.
The three most recent murder cases meant the county had to spend nearly a half million dollars for defense alone -- "that on a budget that is usually only $350,000 a year."
He noted the high costs the county incurs is directed at convicting 1,000 people, explaining the county is responsible for all public defense. His office must defend city cases as well as the county's. He noted the vast majority of the 450 misdemeanor cases his office defends annually actually stem from the city of Mountain Home. Because the city has adopted a 'zero tolerance' stand, it means more charges are filed. It seems unfair for the taxpayer outside of the city to have to pay for the city's stand, he said.
He noted that most cases -- nearly 98 percent that cross his desk, never actually go to trial, but go out to plea instead. Without plea bargaining, he explained, the courts would be inundated.
Frachiseur said he prides himself on giving first quality care to every case; that the poor receive the same representation as if they could afford the very best.
He also speaks with pride about his courtroom success rate. He explained he wins roughly two thirds of his cases because he doesn't go to trial with bad cases.
As public defender, he said people often ask him 'how can you defend a guilty person?' His response is "if I don't, who will?" He explains that the state must prove the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. It is the defense attorney's job to put the state's case to the test. "We serve as quality control for the prosecutors," making them prove their case in order "to punish those who are proven to be law breakers."
Raised in California, Frachiseur went to UCLA Law School to earn his degree before joining the Army in 1968 where he served as prosecutor for court's marshal. Once he was discharged, and returned to Los Angeles, he found there were no jobs for someone with two years' experience. Family members in Idaho encouraged his move, where he began practicing law in Buhl. It was there he met his wife and got married. When the job opened up in Elmore County with Alan Wilson in the prosecutor's office, the family moved to Mountain Home, "and, other than one year in Twin Falls, we have been here ever since."