DEFENDANT #27: ERIKA ANZOÁTEGUI #187012 (The Vernon Patterson Dossier)

 

Role in People v. Michael Taylor (XNEGA111132)
As the Chief Deputy of the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s Office, Erika Anzoátegui presided over a command structure that directly facilitated procedural abandonment, unethical withdrawal, and obstruction of redress. Under her authority, Alternate Public Defender Hannah Mandel #333020 was allowed to declare a conflict of interest without cause, cut off communication with Defendant Michael Bernard Taylor, Jr., and then retreat behind bureaucratic insulation without affording him any legal channel to contest the withdrawal—during critical pretrial stages.

Despite being repeatedly carbon copied (CC’d) on official correspondence detailing this deprivation of rights, Anzoátegui failed to respond, acknowledge, or intervene—mirroring the institutional silence of her Public Defender counterpart Ricardo García.


Summary of Involvement
Oversaw Illegitimate Withdrawal of Counsel Without Reason or Record:

Mr. Taylor was actively represented by Alternate Public Defender Hannah Mandel #333020, who:

• Refused to provide a copy of the PC 730 competency assessment that had triggered unlawful hospitalization;
• Gave the document instead to Bar Panel attorney Vernon Patterson, who had not yet been officially substituted in;
• Then declared a conflict of interest in response to Mr. Taylor’s assertion of constitutional rights—without ever providing a legal or factual basis for the conflict.

Institutional Stonewalling of Complaint Intake
When Mr. Taylor attempted to file a formal complaint at the Alternate Public Defender’s office, he was denied the ability to do so by Alternate Public Defender Julia Winn Dixon (#197678). Rather than process or escalate the complaint, Dixon blocked its submission outright, further compounding the procedural and ethical deprivation already inflicted by Mandel’s unexplained withdrawal.

Pattern of Silence Despite Formal Notification
Erika Anzoátegui was directly notified via CC in multiple formal communications that detailed:

• Attorney-client breakdowns;
• Improper document handling;
• Inability to challenge the conflict;
• Constitutional violations ongoing under the jurisdiction of her department.

Like other senior county officials—Ricardo García, Kathryn Barger, and George Gascón—Anzoátegui maintained complete silence, neither acknowledging the complaint nor referring it for review.


Why She Is Defendant #27 in the Dossier

• Commanded a department that unlawfully terminated counsel without record, justification, or redress, leaving Mr. Taylor legally vulnerable during active proceedings.
• Failed to process or even permit the filing of a formal complaint, in violation of due process, client protection policies, and public accountability norms.
• Ignored direct, documented notice of misconduct by subordinates, refusing to respond even when CC’d in critical time-sensitive communications.
• Represents institutional complicity in the calculated abandonment of a pro se defendant, part of a coordinated pattern of silencing through withdrawal, confusion, and bureaucratic fencing.

> “Anzoátegui stood at the helm of the only office designed to speak when the Public Defender cannot. But when the conflict came, she chose the same silence. In the Dossier, she is the keeper of the alternate silence — the one that confirms the scheme, not corrects it.”