The Louisiana Public Defender Oversight Board voted 5-4 Monday to uphold the ouster of five attorneys who lead local public defender offices. The decision follows the replacement of more than half of the board’s members over the past six weeks.
The vote means the attorneys won’t be returning to their jobs anytime soon, but it doesn’t end their dispute with Gov. Jeff Landry’s administration.
“This wasn’t so much the board’s decision as it was the governor’s decision in my opinion,” Rick Schroeder, a New Orleans area lawyer representing the dismissed attorneys, said in an interview.
The ousted attorneys appear to be gearing up to sue the Landry administration and their former boss, State Public Defender Rémy Starns.
Starns became state public defender in 2020 when former Gov. John Bel Edwards was in office and was reappointed last year by Landry. The lawyers allege he took away their jobs because they spoke out against him in front of the public defender board and state lawmakers. They’ve also accused him of targeting women for retribution.
They include Michelle AndrePont of Caddo Parish, Brett Brunson of Natchitoches Parish, Deirdre Fuller of Rapides Parish, Trisha Ward of Evangeline Parish and John Hogue, who worked in Madison, Tensas and East Carroll parishes.
“I’ve opposed every one of his efforts to seize power because I believe in independence, accountability and justice,” AndrePont told the board Monday. “I have lost my job, but I will not lose my voice, and I will not lose my integrity.”
In June, Starns denied allegations of gender discrimination, though he hasn’t offered an explanation as to why he dismissed the attorneys. He has said he is not legally required to share his reasons for not renewing the attorneys’ annual contracts, which expired July 1.
None of the terminated lawyers received negative performance reviews or problematic office audits while in their jobs. It is rare for chief public defenders contracts to not be renewed.
Jean Faria, who was state public defender from 2008-13 and continued to work with the office through 2020, testified Monday before the board. During her time with the agency, no lead local public defenders had their contract renewals rejected without cause, she said.
For weeks, Starns’ decision to remove the attorneys has given rise to consternation within the public defender board. Six of its nine members have resigned since the end of May, as the board’s vote over whether to intervene in the dismissals became unavoidable.
The board was forced to reschedule its decision on the terminations three times in the past three weeks. Until Monday, not enough board members were showing up to legally take a vote.
The five members who voted to uphold Starns’ decision to fire the attorneys have only joined the board in the last month. Three had never attended a board meeting before Monday, and the other two had only been to one previous meeting on June 16.
The four board members who voted against Starns’ decision have been with the board for over a year.
Starns didn’t attend the board meeting in person Monday, even though he was out in the hallway yards away from the meeting room entrance as it convened. When the board members took a recess, Starns walked by and looked through a door window into the meeting room but didn’t enter.
When a reporter asked him in the hallway why he wasn’t attending meeting, Starns said he was watching it remotely.
As a result of the recent board resignations, its makeup changed. A few weeks ago, the board included three Black members. Now, eight of its nine members are white, though a third of Louisiana’s population is Black and many of the people who rely on public defense are not white.
Its only Black member, Baton Rouge attorney Adrejia Boutte, was one of three nominees submitted by the public defender and state criminal defense attorney associations for Landry’s selection last year. She had also served on a previous public defender board during the Edwards administration.
The board also went from having five retired state judges as members, to just three.
Its newest members include:
- Mary Devereux, a retired district court judge who worked in St. Tammany and Washington parishes and was appointed to the board by the Supreme Court;
- Kevin Landreneau, a Baton Rouge attorney appointed by Louisiana Senate President Cameron Henry, R-Metairie
- Medlock Harbison, a New Orleans-area attorney appointed by House Speaker Phillip DeVillier, R-Eunice.