A staffer will retire in November, an attorney recently resigned, another is leaving in August while an investigator was recently hired by the U.S. District Court for the NMI.
Currently, there are three PDO attorneys: Hardwicke, Richard Miller and Doug Hartig, while the staffers are administrative officer Tony Cabrera and investigator Uly Kapileo.
“The Office of the Public Defender is in a transition period and during this time will continue to provide zealous representation to all PDO clients,” said Hardwicke in an e-mail to Variety.
A former prosecutor prior to becoming the Senate’s legal counsel, Meyer will replace former Assistant Public Defender Michael Curtis Brown who completed his two-year PDO contract.
Brown has returned to Virginia to satisfy his pre-med college credits and is scheduled to begin medical school in the Philippines in September, Hardwicke said.
“We are still interviewing potential replacements for Adam Miles,” Hardwicke said, adding that Miles recently completed his one-year contract at PDO.
A member of the PDO family for seven years, Bertha Camacho was chosen out of 109 applicants to be the docket clerk for the federal court, Hardwicke said.
“Berty will be greatly missed at the PDO, but we are so very happy, proud, and not at all surprised that she was the one chosen for the federal position,” Hardwicke added.
Hardwicke said “an optimal PDO has six attorneys and five support staff.”
“We are presently interviewing applicants to fill Bertha’s position as well as interviewing to fill Tony Cabrera’s position as the administrative officer as he is scheduled to retire in November of this year. We also have an open position for a secretary 1 which we are also currently interviewing for,” Hardwicke said.
“For the short term Uly Kapileo and Tony Cabrera as staff and myself, Doug Hartig and Richard Miller as the attorneys, will handle the work load. We are a proud office, fully aware of our obligations and look forward to the challenge ahead of us,” Hardwicke added.
