Page 7 - MarchApril26 Report

sentence. Since 2013, the office has oper-
ated its Fresh Start expungement clinic
on the first and third Wednesday of each
month. There is no other expungement
clinic like it in Ohio.
For true access to justice, effective
assistance of counsel requires more than a
skilled litigator. Access to justice through
client-centered, holistic public defense is
not only essential, but it is effective.5 Public
defense also serves a broader purpose,
protecting the constitutional rights of
the entire community by protecting the
rights of each client. Day in and day out,
public defenders hold the government
accountable for constitutional violations.
Too often, the accused who cannot afford
counsel are residents in under-resourced
neighborhoods who have been dispropor-
tionately subjected to police contacts and
violence.6 They are subject to oversurveil-
lance because of who they are and where
they live.7
Public defenders, one case at a time,
challenge state action when community
members are stopped without reasonable
suspicion, seized without probable cause,
and searched without a warrant. Public
defenders challenge the admissibility of
statements when taken in violation of the
Fifth Amendment right to remain silent,
when community members, even children,
are vulnerable to coercive interroga-
tion tactics or not advised of their rights
before questioning. Public defenders chal-
lenge the constitutionality of criminalized
free speech activities. Public defenders do
not shy away from taking a case to trial,
and bring to life the long-held value in this
country, as Foltz eloquently put it, “[e]very
man brought to trial in a criminal court
being presumed to be innocent, is entitled
to be treated as an innocent
man, and becomes of neces-
sity the special object of the
court’s care.”
At the core of Foltz’s
vision for a public defender
office was ensuring the same
dignity to the accused who
cannot afford counsel as a citizen who has
the resources to retain effective counsel
by fighting for it in court. A well-re-
sourced, well-trained public defender
office, with attorneys that bring life to
their client’s humanity, supports the integ-
rity of the justice system, and brings hope
to each person served. To bring Foltz’s
vision alive, the Hamilton County Public
Defender has DIGNITY*JUSTICE*HOPE
signs posted throughout the office and on
the office letterhead, promising each client
that they will be treated with DIGNITY as
we fight for JUSTICE, to give them HOPE
every day.
Financial and estate planning can be challenging...
The Disability Foundation offers an alternative to disinheritance through three pooled trusts
available only to disabled residents of Ohio. These trusts allow individuals with disabilities to
buy the things they want and need, without worrying that their purchases might cause them
to lose their government benefits. We offer both first and third-party trusts.
Learn how we can assist your firm in setting up a Special Needs Trust.
Disability-Foundation.org
E n r i c h i n g T o d a y • S e c u r i n g T o m o r r o w
937-225-9939
Artwork created for the Hamilton
County Public Defender Office by youth
in Penelope Harris’ art class at the
Hamilton County Youth Center.
Raymond T. Faller has been the Chief Public Defender
for Hamilton County since August 2012. He will retire
on June 30th, 2026. Angela Chang is the Youth Defense
Division Director at the Hamilton County Public
Defender Office, where she has worked since 2015. She
will step into the role of Chief Public Defender on July
1st, 2026.
1 “Public Defender Rights of Persons Accused of Crime,”
Clara Shortridge Foltz, August 8, 1893, available at
https://speakingwhilefemale.co/law-foltz/
2 O.R.C. 120.01-.04
3 “Taking Gideon’s Pulse: An Assessment of the Right to
Counsel in Hamilton County, Ohio (April 2008).
4 See American Bar Association (ABA) Standards for
Criminal Justice Representation Providing Defense Ser-
vices (3d ed. 1992), Standard 5-1.4, Supporting Services,
available at https://www.americanbar.org/groups/crim-
inal_justice/publications/criminal_justice_section_ar-
chive/crimjust_standards_defsvcs_toc/
5 See “National Association for Public Defender Foun-
dational Principles,” Principle 8, National Association
for Public Defense, available at https://publicdefenders.
us/app/uploads/2025/02/NAPD-Foundational-Princi-
ples_March-16-2017.pdf
6 See “Contacts Between Police and the Public, 2022, ”
Tapp and Davis, U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of
Justice Statistics, available at https://bjs.ojp.gov/library/
publications/contacts-between-police-and-public-2022;
Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice:
Science, Practice, and Policy. Washington, DC: The
National Academies Press, 2023, available at https://doi.
org/10.17226/2422
7 See Merit Brief of Amici Curiae, State v. Hairston, 2019
Ohio 1622. Public defender offices from across the
state came together to express concern about what
the Fourth Amendment case would mean for the rights
of residents of a “high crime area.”
march/april 2026 cba report | 7