| Agency Name: | Colorado State Public Defender |
| Type: | Agency |
| Seal: | Seal of Colorado.svg |
| Headquarters: | Denver, Colorado |
| Employees: | 1,097 |
| Budget: | $155 m USD (2023-2024) |
| Chief1 Name: | [1] |
| Chief1 Position: | Colorado State Public Defender |
| Chief2 Name: | Karen Taylor |
| Chief2 Position: | First Assistant Public Defender |
| Chief3 Name: | Lucienne Ohanian |
| Chief3 Position: | Chief Deputy |
| Chief4 Name: | Joyce Akhahenda |
| Chief4 Position: | Chief Deputy |
| Chief5 Name: | Zak Brown |
| Chief5 Position: | Chief Deputy |
| Chief6 Name: | Stephen Ettinger |
| Chief6 Position: | Chief Financial Officer |
| Chief7 Name: | Kyle Hughes |
| Chief7 Position: | Chief Information Officer |
| Chief8 Name: | Veronica Graves |
| Chief8 Position: | Chief Human Resources Officer |
| Parent Agency: | Colorado Judicial Branch |
The Office of the Colorado State Public Defender provides legal assistance to individuals charged with a crime in Colorado state court who are financially unable to retain private counsel. The office consists of 21 regional trial offices, a centralized appellate office that handles appeals from every jurisdiction, and a centralized state administrative office.[2]
In 1963, after Gideon v. Wainwright, the Colorado General Assembly passed the Colorado Defender Act. This Act authorized Colorado counties to either establish a public defender's office or remain under the previous ad hoc system of appointing counsel for indigent citizens accused of criminal offenses. Four county public defender offices were established under the Act: Denver, Brighton, Pueblo and Durango. In 1970, the State Legislature passed Senate Bill 126, which created the Office of the State Public Defender as an independent state agency.
Initially, the Colorado Supreme Court appointed the Colorado State Public Defender. Rollie R. Rogers was the first State Public Defender. He served from October 1969 through February 1978. On August 1, 1982, David F. Vela was appointed State Public Defender. He fulfilled the responsibilities of the office for more than 17 years, until his retirement on December 31, 1999. David S. Kaplan became the State Public Defender and served from January 1, 2000 until October 31, 2006. Upon his resignation, Douglas K. Wilson was appointed the 6th State Public Defender, effective November 1, 2006.[3] After Douglas Wilson's retirement in July 2018, Megan A. Ring was appointed the 7th State Public Defender, and currently heads the organization. Ms. Ring is the first female appointed to the position.[4]
In February, 2024, the Colorado State Public Defender's computer network was temporarily shut down following a malware event.[5] The attack shut down the network for a period of time as well as copied over files of an "untold" amount of clients, which may have included a client or potential client's name, social security number, driver's license or identification card number, other government identification numbers, medical information, and/or health insurance identification number. OSPD, The Governor's Office of Information Technology, and Colorado law enforcement are actively investigating how the malware incident was caused.[6] [7]
The Colorado State Public Defender has twenty-one trial offices throughout Colorado: Alamosa, Arapahoe, Boulder, Brighton, Colorado Springs, Denver, Dillon, Douglas, Durango, Fort Collins, Glenwood Springs, Golden, Grand Junction, Greeley, La Junta, Montrose, Pueblo, Salida, Steamboat Springs, Sterling, and Trinidad. Appeals statewide are handled from an appellate office in Denver. The Colorado State Public Defender also maintains a central administrative office in Denver.