In the wake of the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, Delaware’s Office of Defense Services created two new positions.
The Office of Defense Services includes the Public Defender’s Office and the Office of Conflicts Counsel, and represents about 85 percent of criminal defendants in Delaware.
To better serve those clients, it has hired a Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator and a Special Litigation Attorney.
Chief Defender Brendan O’Neill says they looked inward to assess how they can better serve their clients.
“Our office is on the frontlines of justice. Every day we must grapple with a racist and imbalanced criminal justice system that disproportionately impacts people of color," said O'Neill. "We pride ourselves in providing high-quality, zealous defense services to those that cannot afford an attorney.Too often our clients, the majority of whom are Black, are not represented by someone who looks like them. This is an unfortunate reality and one we seek to fix."
Paige Chapman comes to the Diversity and Inclusion Coordinator position after serving as an attorney for the office in the New Castle County Court of Common Pleas.
Chapman explains what her new role entails.
"We'll be working with recruitment and not only recruiting attorneys, but in all staff positions to have a more diverse group. Provide training to staff and attorneys on cultural competency, and what ways to better represent our clients," said Chapman.
Elliot Margules now serves as Special Litigation Attorney.
Margules was most recently an attorney with the office’s Superior Court practice in New Castle County.
Margules has been with the office since 2014.
Margules role is to identify and challenge systemic issues in the criminal system.
"My hope is to litigate the issues when necessary but really take advantage of this national dialogue and try to collaborate with as many community leaders and organizations as possible in order to address these inequities that I think everybody is really taking notice of in a way we had not in the past," Margules said.
Margules will deal with issues like bail, discovery, jury selection while still handling a Superior Court caseload.
Both have already started in their new positions.
