Chief Justice appoints Judge Shelia Prats and retired Justice Richard Palmer to Public Defender Services Commission.

Chief Justice Richard Robinson has filled the two vacancies created by the mysterious mass resignation of members of the Public Defender Services Commission. He appointed Judge Shelia Prats and retired Justice Richard Palmer to restore confidence in a vital state agency that has been racked with fear and vengeance since the appointment of Chief Public Defender TaShun Bowden-Lewis last year.

The appointment of Prats will be be widely hailed as adding a resolute member who will not buckle in the face of intimidation in upholding the rule of law. Public defenders should begin to feel that they are no longer bereft of a protector.

Palmer’s route to the Supreme Court was paved with tennis courts. A former prosecutor, Palmer was a tennis partner of then-Governor Lowell P. Weicker, when the one-term A Connecticut Party governor appointed him to the high court. Palmer served on it until he turned the mandatory retirement age of 70.

Published March 29, 2023.