MUCH CHANGE? Twelve years ago, new public...

MUCH CHANGE? Twelve years ago, new public defender Ron Butler was heatedly attacked by Sheriff Brad Gates for daring to advise child killer Thomas F. Edwards in his jail cell before his office was actually appointed to represent Edwards. Gates yelled interference. A county supervisor-appointed blue ribbon commission vigorously upheld Butler. . . . Saturday, a Butler deputy was at the Orange County Jail to see accused postal killer Mark Richard Hilbun--before being appointed. Denied access at first, the defense lawyer finally got through. “They still try to give us flak,” Butler says.