The Orange County Board of Supervisors are slated name a temporary head of the county Public Defender’s office Tuesday to replace Public Defender Frank Ospino, who was appointed to a judgeship.

The public defender’s office represents criminal defendants who can’t afford their own attorney.  It has about 400 employees and a budget of $72 million.

The office, particularly Assistant Public Defender Scott Sanders, brought to light widespread misconduct by local prosecutors and sheriff’s deputies in their handling of an informants network inside county jails. 

Ospino, who served as the public defender chief since 2012, was appointed last month by Gov. Jerry Brown to fill the seat of Orange County Superior Court Judge Luis A. Rodriguez, who retired.

You can contact Nick Gerda at ngerda@gmail.com, and follow him on Twitter: @nicholasgerda.

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