Baton Rouge’s chief public defender is out. What happens now?

Former employees of the public defender’s office sued over withheld pay for unsued vacation time — which ultimately saddled the office with more than $167,000 in penalties and legal fees.

What’s next?

The last day of Parker’s contract is June 30, but before then the state public defender board will appoint an interim chief to cover the office in her stead until they can find a permanent replacement, as outlined in Louisiana law. The interim, generally a candidate the state public defender recommends for approval from among district defenders in neighboring jurisdictions, will likely be selected in an upcoming June 22 board meeting.

Soon, officials will appoint a search committee for the new permanent East Baton Rouge district defender composed of three attorneys — one selected by the president of the Louisiana State Bar Association, one by the chief judge of the 19th Judicial District Court and one by the state public defender.

The committee will receive applications for the job and do initial interviews before sending the state public defender board a list of at least three nominees. Finally, the board will consider those finalists and take a vote, officially appointing a new chief. 

An important job

State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, a Baton Rouge Democrat, said the next public defender will need to be someone who can rebuild the office.

“I really just want to see the public defender’s office moving forward, [for] someone to grab the reins and lead the office out of this hole,” Marcelle said after the board voted not to renew Parker’s contract. “It’s going to be tough because [Parker has] completely torn the office up.”

Marcelle had repeatedly called for Parker to be removed, saying the exodus of attorneys harmed people in desperate need of legal help, as well as opened the office to lawsuits. 

She also questioned “how many people have been harmed in the interim in terms of clients because there were no lawyers to represent them or their cases were being pushed back.”