Suspect in fatal beach stabbing gets high-powered defense

SANTA BARBARA — With an arraignment appearance on first-degree homicide charges scheduled in Santa Barbara Superior Court today, Adrian Robles finds himself in the middle of some apparent judicial confusion over the question of his legal representation.

Robles, 20, is the accused killer of Robert Burke Simpson, stemming from a violent knife attack which occurred at Santa Barbara’s popular Arroyo Burro Beach in the early evening of April 15. Simpson, whose throat was slashed and died later at the scene, had “tried to break up a fight” between two other individuals when he was attacked, said sheriff’s department spokesman Sgt. Drew Sugars.

Because Robles’ co-defendant Brittany Weiler and another minor female had been charged as accessories and conspirators in the case and have been represented by the Santa Barbara County Public Defender’s Office, the potential for legal conflict of interest required that Robles be granted private defense counsel. Pursuant to that judicial imperative, well-known local criminal attorney Steve Balash was recruited to represent Robles in today’s scheduled hearing.

“This happens quite frequently,” explained assistant public defender Raimondo Montes de Oca. “Any time there is more than a single defendant in a case, there is potential for a conflict of interest.”

Balash will be receiving the usual court-mandated fee for representing Robles, although his usual private practice fees are considerably higher.

When potential conflicts of defendant representation arise in the Public Defender’s Office, private contractors such as Conflict Defense Associates are usually called in to provide counsel.

But according to Balash, “there have been a lot of murders in good ol’ Santa Barbara, and you need a certain level of experience to represent those defendants,” adding that neither CDA nor the county public defender has enough attorneys available with such expertise. It was originally thought that CDA attorney James Crowder would be brought in to defend Robles, but his caseload of potential death penalty defense work precludes his working this case.