The Sarasota Public Defender’s Office

What follows is an article that Elliott Metcalfe and I collaborated on for publication by the Sarasota County Bar Association in the late 1990's.

"Equal justice under the law" is the maxim that guides the attorneys of the Public Defender’s Office of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit. Until the early 1960’s, indigent persons charged with non-capital crimes had no recognized right to a court-appointed attorney. The United States Supreme Court changed that in 1963 in the case of Gideon v. Wainwright. Gideon, a Florida inmate, successfully argued that his conviction was constitutionally infirm because he was not given an attorney at trial.

As a result of the Gideon decision, the State of Florida quickly established the first state-wide public defender system. Governor Ferris Bryant appointed Walter Talley to be the first public defender of the twelfth judicial circuit. At that time the Twelfth Circuit was comprised of Sarasota, Manatee, and DeSoto counties as well as Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Glades and Hendry.

The public defender position was initially considered to be “part-time.” Joanne Miller, who has worked here since the beginning, recalls that “we were flooded with mail from every jail in the circuit and didn’t know where to begin.” Jim Gardner was elected as the second public defender and took office in 1972. Elliott Metcalfe, who had worked for both Talley and Gardner, was elected as the third public defender in 1976 and continues to serve in that position today.

The “part-time” public defender position has now grown into four offices, eighty employees, forty attorneys and an extensive law library. The budget for the office has increased from a few thousand dollars initially to a current expenditure of 4.2 million dollars. (Note: the budget and the size of the staff are now considerably larger) The office is now responsible for the defense of all indigent persons who are threatened with a loss of liberty. This includes felony offenses, misdemeanors, juveniles and those facing commitment to a mental hospital. The office has also assisted in providing CLE training for local attorneys with the assistance of the Sarasota County Bar Association and the local chapter of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Attorneys from the office have frequently been on the cutting edge of criminal law developments. Elliott Metcalfe personally argued some of Florida’s first capital cases after the death penalty was reinstated in 1973. Other note-worthy battles have included the fight against the “DUI bumper-sticker.” Presently, one of our felony attorneys may have a hundred or more active cases at one time. It is our goal to provide high quality legal services to every client that the Court appoints us to represent.