Raymond Buenaventura, Lake County’s public defender, has been hired as Monterey County’s chief public defender, effective December 1, with an annual salary of $273,245, just two years after he was hired to lead the newly created Lake County Public Defenders Office.. Monterey County supervisors approved the hiring on October 14, citing his legal knowledge and administrative service. Buenaventura’s 2023 hiring in Lake County was criticized for a lack of transparency, given his only prior public defender experience was four years in LA County. Lake County’s Public Defender’s Office’s future leadership is now uncertain.