Resignations roil Public Defender Services Commission.

Members of the Public Defender Services Commission resigned this week and no one wants to provide details. Superior Court Judge Laura F. Baldini provided a suggestion of the turmoil at the state agency in her March 22nd resignation letter. “My decision to resign is made after careful reflection and consideration,” Baldini wrote. “Given present circumstances, if I were to remain as a member of this Commission, I would no longer be able to fulfill my statutory obligations.”

Baldini, who was nominated to the bench by former Governor M. Jodi Rell, concluded her letter to Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson with an offer to provide more details. “Please contact me if you wish to discuss the substance of this letter.” Robinson appointed Baldini and Judge Kevin S. Russo to the commission on September 29, 2021.

Baldini’s resignation came a day after the commission’s chair, New Haven lawyer Alison M. Near, sent her resignation letter to Governor Ned Lamont. Near, who Lamont appointed on July 29, 2021, told the governor, “Over the past several months, I have experienced great difficulty in balancing my obligations to my law practice with the responsibility of ensuring that the rights of indigent defendants–the clients of the Division–are protected. I have needed to devote a substantial portion of my time to the work of the Commission, and that work has taken critical time away from my existing clients.”

Near is a partner at the law firm Jacobs & Dow, LLC.

A message left with the Office of the Chief Public Defender Thursday morning had not elicited a response. TaShun Bowden-Lewis was appointed to the top job at the agency in 2022.

Published March 23, 2023.