Patrick Crowley

MARQUETTE — Marquette County has officially named Patrick Crowley as the chief public defender for the new Marquette County Public Defender’s Office, which was developed by the county to meet standards recently put in place by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission.

Crowley, a Northern Michigan University graduate who attended the University of Dayton Law School for his law degree, is currently a partner in the Lansing-area law firm Crowley, Cornish, Rockafellow, & Sartz PLLC.

Crowley has practiced law since 2003, and has experience defending charges ranging from misdemeanors to high-level felonies and capital offenses, he said.

Crowley said he has long followed the development and implementation of the new indigent defense standards and looks forward to his new role in Marquette County. He said he is passionate about providing high-quality defense counsel for those who cannot afford an attorney on their own.

“It is important to have a qualified and well-trained counsel on both sides of the courtroom,” he said. “Everything I’ve seen says Mr. (Matt) Wiese has done an excellent job at the prosecutor’s side of things. He represents the people of the state and our system is an adversarial system, which means it’s designed for both sides to advocate for their own position. So if the state has that on their side, it is only fair, it is only constitutional and it is only just to make sure that the little guy — the defendant who’s charged with the crime, who has his liberty potentially affected — has the same.”

The development of the public defender’s office stems from new requirements set in 2017 by the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, which sought to improve the quality of indigent defense in Michigan as part of the response to a 2007 lawsuit against the state over its approach to providing legal counsel for defendants who could not afford it.

Crowley said that while the indigent defense system in Marquette County has historically worked well, the development of the new requirements will help ensure indigent defense is standardized to a high quality throughout the state.

“There are four things that it’s going to make sure of: it’s going to make sure that we’re well trained; it’s going to make sure that we’re doing things quickly and effectively, meeting with clients quickly, not letting them sit without knowing what’s going on; to some degree, it’s going to make sure that we’re independent from the judiciary or the court administration; and it provides some additional resources for investigators and expert witnesses,” he said. “Those are things that should have and could have been happening forever, but they just haven’t — now they will.”

Due to the state’s requirement for counties to meet these new standards once state funding was in place, the public defender’s office is supported by a mix of state and local funds, Marquette County Administrator Scott Erbisch said previously.

The state asked the county to average its annual indigent defense costs over a period of three years to determine the annual local share the county would cover. The county’s contribution to fund the 2018-2019 fiscal year is about $224,000, and the state’s contribution for the fiscal year is $631,000, Erbisch said, adding that this amount covers many one-time costs for setting up the office, such as the purchase of equipment.

While Crowley’s official start date for the position is Feb. 4, he has already been working with the county and visiting Marquette to prepare for the transition.

Because the Marquette County Courthouse will not be able to house the public defender’s office due to space constraints, Crowley and Erbisch have been looking at potential office locations near the courthouse and they plan to secure a location in the near future, they said.

Crowley will also help to hire two assistant public defenders, an office manager and a legal secretary before the office opens later this year, he said.

The county is currently seeking applicants for the two assistant public defender positions, Crowley said, adding that the job listings were posted as of Monday. He encourages all interested parties to apply for the positions, he said, noting that experience working with the local judiciary system is a desirable trait for applicants.

“I’m looking for the most qualified people who have an interest in serving Marquette County,” he said.

While the creation of the public defender’s office is uncharted territory for Marquette County, Crowley and county officials said they look forward to opening the office and providing high-quality legal representation for defendants who cannot afford counsel.

“Marquette is fortunate that they’ve had a good quality product all along — we’re just looking to enhance what’s already here,” Crowley said.