David Negus

1942 - 2021

1942 - 2021 David Negus, a former public defender in San Bernardino county, died on July 13, 2021 in his home in northern California. He was 78. Negus was involved in many of the most controversial criminal cases in the Inland Empire in the 1980s and 1990s, including that of Kevin Cooper, whose challenge to his 1985 murder conviction has attracted national attention. David was born in 1942 to Robert and Margaret Negus in Alexandria, Virginia and grew up in Monrovia, California with his younger sister Marsha. He went to college at UC Berkeley, studying French history with a focus on peasant revolts in the 17th century. In 1965 he married another Berkeley student, Lynne Negus, and they eventually moved back to southern California and David entered law school. In 1970 their son Stephen was born. In 1974 he began work as a public defender, eventually rising to become head of the county's western division and ultimately its assistant public defender. He was known for his zeal in defending his clients and for encouraging his office to go to trial on their behalf as much as possible. In 1989 David married his fellow public defender Carolle LeMonnier, and the two moved to La Verne where they raised their daughter Rose. In 2003 he retired, traveling extensively with Carolle and Rose and ultimately moving to the wine country of northern California, settling in Cloverdale. Negus was an avid photographer, specializing in day-to-day vignettes of street life from as far afield as Paris, Mexico, Nicaragua and Egypt. He also was the family photographer at the lively gatherings of the LeMonnier extended family. Later in life he became a genealogist, tracing the histories of the Negus and LeMonnier clans back hundreds of years in Europe and North America. He is survived by Carolle, his daughter Rose, his son Stephen and his grandchildren Rohan and Mira. There will be a celebration of David's life on Friday, October 15th, from 3pm to 6pm, at the Woman's Club of Claremont at 343 W Twelfth St, Claremont, CA 91711.