Chief Public Defender Adam Hardwicke said in addition to one vacant post, they have yet to replace former Assistant Public Defender Janet King who resigned in October last year to take care of her mother on Tinian.
“We hope to fill the two vacant positions for assistant public defenders soon,” Hardwicke said.
He said he works with four other lawyers in the PDO in handling about 50 to 70 caseloads each, but since King’s resignation, four of them have to look after all the cases.
Working with Hardwicke in the PDO are Assistant Public Defenders Doug Hartig, Richard Miller and Matt Holley.
Hardwicke said the cases they handle include traffic, domestic violence, disturbing the peace, theft, juvenile and other cases. They are also handling the cases on Tinian and Rota.
In an earlier interview, Hardwicke told the Variety that they accept cases of clients who are qualified to avail of PDO’s services.
He said the function of the PDO is to defend indigent clients.
“The judges are the ones who decide if a client is qualified to avail of the services of a public defender,” he said.
He added that PDO’s clients range from 13 to 65 years old, with 90 percent of them are males.
