ABOUT OUR OFFICE
JOSEPH L. SPAETH
Public Defender, Marin County
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Joe Spaeth is a native of Buffalo, New York. He
graduated from Hamilton College in upstate New York. Following a stint
in the U.S. Navy, he returned to Buffalo to attend Law School at the State
University of New York, where he received his JD degree in 1969.
He moved to San Francisco in 1970 to join the accounting firm of Arthur
Young & Company, but soon tired of the tax code and financial statements.
He began his career as a trial lawyer in 1973, joining the Office of the
San Francisco Public Defender. In July 1994, he retired from that office
to become the Public Defender for Marin County.
He continues to have a strong interest in juvenile law,
having managed the juvenile division of the San Francisco Public Defender's
Office from 1983 to 1994. He is a past president of the California Public
Defender's Association and was the public defender representative on the
Family and Juvenile Law Advisory committee to the California Judicial
Council for over 10 years. He also serves Marin County as Chair of the
Employee Recognition Committee and has served on the Strategic Plan Steering
and Implementation Committees.
Mr. Spaeth is strongly committed to seeking methods
to prevent recidivism through the implementation of creative and innovative
approaches to crime prevention, such as restorative approaches to justice
and therapeutic judicial treatment of underlying causes of criminal activity
like alcohol and drug abuse. To this end, he and his staff actively participate
in several collaborative efforts in the County, including the Criminal
Justice/Behavioral Health Advisory Committee, STAR program, School-Law
Enforcement Partnership, Healthy Teens Marin, Community Restorative Justice
Project Team, Marin Partnership for Families with Children, Prop 36 Working
Group and Drug Court Steering Committees.
 JOSE
H. VARELA
Assistant Public Defender
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Jose Varela is a magna cum laude graduate of Saint Mary's
College of California in Moraga. He received his J.D. from the Boalt Hall
School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. While at Boalt,
Mr. Varela was awarded the Sowell Fellowship in Labor Law and was the
Co-Editor-in-Chief of the La Raza Law Journal.
Mr. Varela served as a deputy public defender in Los Angeles and San Diego
Counties before joining the Marin County Public Defender's Office in March
of 2001. As a trial attorney, Mr. Varela has tried cases ranging from
misdemeanors to death penalty cases. He is a current member of the California
Public Defender Association's Board of Directors and is a frequent speaker
at CPDA training seminars.
Mr. Varela is active on many Marin County steering committees,
including Adult Drug Court, Proposition 36 and the County's Strategic
Plan Implementation Group.
 DAVID
I. BROWN
Chief Deputy Public Defender
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David I. Brown received his undergraduate degree at Cornell University, where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, and his law degree from Stanford Law School, where he was an Associate Editor for the Stanford Law Review.
Mr. Brown began his legal career in the Marin Public Defender’s Office in 1981. With the exception of brief stints as a Deputy Attorney General in the Federated States of Micronesia, and in private practice, Mr. Brown has spent most of his legal career at the Marin Public Defender’s Office. He has tried many cases in the Marin County Courts, including misdemeanors, LPS cases, and felonies, including three strikes, San Quentin, murder, and death penalty cases.
Mr. Brown is active in a number of professional organizations. He presently serves on the Board of Directors of the Marin Bar Association. He is a past member of the Board of Directors of Alternate Defenders, Incorporated, and continues to serve as chairperson of their Peer Review Committee. In 2006, the Marin County Human Rights Commission presented Mr. Brown with the Martin Luther King, Jr. Humanitarian of the Year Award. He is committed to seeking justice by serving his clients with compassion and professionalism.
DEBRA A. LEYVA
Chief Deputy Public Defender
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Debra Leyva, a Southern California native, moved north
to attend both college and law school. She received her degree at
Sonoma State University in sociology and she later received her J.D. from
the University of San Francisco Law School, where she qualified
for the McAuliffe Honor Society.
She began work with Marin County Public Defender in 1982.
During her twenty-five years of practice she has represented clients in
criminal, juvenile, mental health, misdemeanor and felony cases, including
several major felony trials. She has supervised in the felony
and misdemeanor units for the past thirteen years.
Ms. Leyva enjoys participating in collaborative service
programs such as Drug Court, Mental Health Court, STAR program and the
Forensic Multi-Disciplinary Team. She is currently an Adjunct Professor
at Hastings which allows her to serve as a mentor to the legal interns
and organize the legal intern program in her office. She has dedicated
her career to the practice of public criminal defense and considers her
compassion for her clients the motivating force in her pursuit of justice.
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