Newcomer set to be top public defender
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Elliot Howsie, a Pittsburgh defense attorney who has no managerial experience and owes back taxes of more than $6,000 on at least two properties in the county, is poised to become the next chief public defender in Allegheny County.
County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, who is responsible for making the appointment, would not confirm the hire has been made, instead saying only: "Elliot Howsie is certainly someone we're considering very positively. He has a good resume, but no decision has been made."
An announcement is expected, Mr. Fitzgerald said, by the end of next week.
Mr. Howsie spent several years as an assistant prosecutor in the Allegheny County district attorney's office before going out into private practice as a solo practitioner. His only experience with the public defender's office is having worked there as a summer intern.
Mr. Howsie, 43, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
The hiring of a local criminal defense attorney with no real managerial experience runs counter to recommendations made by experts about how to turn the PD's office around.
The indigent defense system in Allegheny County, which serves about 10,000 clients each year, came under fire late last year when it was revealed that a 2008 study paid for by the county showed that it was "dysfunctional."
At the time the report was made public, Mr. Fitzgerald said he took the problems outlined in it seriously and recognized that a good public defender system is constitutionally required.
Even just a month ago, Mr. Fitzgerald indicated that he would allow for private foundations to donate money to lead a national search for the next public defender.
However, on Tuesday he said the chances were "remote" that such a search would now occur.
He would not address specifics about Mr. Howsie's background.
"The hire is only a piece," Mr. Fitzgerald said. "If this is the direction we're going to go, this is only one piece of that office. It's not just one individual. No one person is going to come in here -- from inside, outside, wherever -- and solve this problem."
Instead, the county executive continued, it would take a combined effort.
Coming on the heels of the 2008 report on the PD's office, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania released its own analysis on what it considered to be myriad problems there. It had been working with the county executive to try to organize the national search.
On Tuesday, Witold Walczak, state legal director, was skeptical of Mr. Fitzgerald's decision.
First Published February 8, 2012 12:00 am
