Concho Valley Public Defender's Office Expands to the Big Country with New State Funding

SAN ANGELO – The Texas Indigent Defense Commission awarded the newly created Concho Valley Public Defender's Office a new grant to expand from the Concho Valley into the Big Country after the Tom Green County Commissioners Court approved the plan allowing the local office to work jointly with a new one in Abilene that will cover five additional counties.  

Tom Green County Commissioners Tuesday accepted the TIDC state grant which will provide approximately $2 million to startup the Public Defender's Office in Taylor County which will be operated jointly with the Concho Valley Public Defender's Office under the direction of Chief Public Defender Joe Stephens. The Taylor County office will provide indigent defendants with court appointed attorneys for Taylor, Callahan, Coleman, Jones and Shackelford counties. Each county participates in funding the local portion of the Public Defender's Office.  

The joint operation also includes two additional attorneys for the Tom Green County Office.  

As we reported earlier, the Concho Valley Public Defender's Office was created with a state grant from the TIDC in the summer of 2021 and became operational a year later.  It is funded by the Commission (“TIDC”) and by the counties of the Concho Valley, which include Coke, Concho, Irion, Runnels, Schleicher, Sterling, and Tom Green. The CVPDO’s budget is approved by the Commissioners’ Court.

The CVPDO has a nine-member Oversight Board that has representatives from each of the seven counties where the CVPDO provides legal representation. The Oversight Board meets quarterly and consists of the following individuals:

·       Tip Hargrove, Attorney, Tom Green County

·       Dr. Brenda Norton, Professor, Angelo State University, Tom Green County

·       Sammy Farmer, Commissioner, Tom Green County

·       Ezra Walling, Principal, Eldorado Middle School, Schleicher County

·       Brandon Poehls, Commissioner, Runnels County

·       Jeff Davidson, Commissioner, Irion County

·       Ross Copeland, Commissioner, Coke County

·       Dwain Psencik, Attorney, Concho County

The reason a Public Defender's Office was needed was because many local attorneys are 'aging out' or reaching retirement age and there are fewer local attorneys for the court appointed system.  Another reason is the availability of the TIDC grant.  Information presented at previous meetings show a significant cost savings to taxpayers with a Public Defender's Office over the current system.  Other benefits listed include lower caseloads for attorneys, more investigators, more training and faster case assignment.  

Testimony in Court Tuesday morning indicated the TIDC grant will provide about 65% of the funding for the office.