The Office of State Public Defender (OSPD) was established in 2011 to continue the work of Capital Defense (est. 2001), Appeals (est. 2007) and Training (est. 2008) under one umbrella and to develop proposals for a statewide public defense system. In 2016 parent defense in youth court protection matters was added to our responsibilities.

As we start our second decade, we have made adjustments to our leadership team. André de Gruy serves as State Defender. George Holmes continues as Appeals director, a job he has held for the last decade. Kristi Mullen who joined OSPD as office manager during the merger continues in that role. Erin Briggs, after over a decade as appellate defender, became Training director in April, 2021. Effective June 1, 2021 Jennifer Morgan joined our staff as the first Parent Defense Program Manager. Also on June 1, 2021, Kelsey Rushing became the Capital Defense director. Kelsey has been a staff attorney for over ten years.