September 18, 2007.  We would like to welcome Budget Director Clark Gradney as the newest member of the LPDB staff.
 

September 18, 2007.  Alfred Boustany has replaced Anthony Champagne as the Louisiana Public Defender Association's ex-officio appointment to the board.  We would like to welcome Mr. Boustany back to the board and thank Mr. Champagne for his service.
 

August 28, 2007.  The board has decided that in the future all board meeting will take place on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 2 p.m. unless a holiday or emergency intervenes.  Locations will vary.  The location of the next meeting will be posted on the home page as soon as determined.
 

August 28, 2007.  Former Director of LIDAB, Edward R. Greenlee, has been named by the board to be the first Interim State Public Defender of the new Louisiana Public Defender Board.
 

August 15, 2007.  As of today the former Louisiana Indigent Defense Assistance Board is now the Louisiana Public Defender Board.
 

March 6, 2007.  We would like to welcome Mary Custer, Administrative Assistant, to LIDAB
 

February 6, 2007.  Kimberly S. Morgan has been appointed to the LIDAB board by the Louisiana State Law Institute's Children's Code Advisory Committee.  I would like to welcome Ms. Morgan to the board on behalf of the LIDAB staff.
 

January 2, 2007.  We would like to welcome Remy Voisin Starns to the LIDAB board who replaces outgoing member Addison Goff who has served on the LIDAB board for many years.  We wish Mr. Goff the best in his future endeavors.
 

December 13, 2006.  We have 2 new forms available in the Downloadable Forms section of our References page; an Initial Client Interview Form and a Release Form.
 

November 2, 2006.  We are pleased to welcome Francis X. Neuner, Jr. to the LIDAB board.  Mr. Neuner will be replacing outgoing board member Cameron Gamble whose service to LIDAB will be missed.
 

June 20, 2006.  The board today adopted the State of Louisiana Performance Standards for Criminal Defense Representation in Indigent Criminal Cases in the Trial Court.  A link to it, along with other LIDAB standards, is available on the Standards page.
 

May 31, 2006.  Sam DiLeo resigned from the board today.  Mr. DiLeo will be missed and the LIDAB staff would like to take this opportunity to thank him and to wish him well in his future endeavors. 
 

May 17, 2006.  We would like to welcome D. Majeeda Snead, who has been appointed to the LIDAB board to represent Loyola Law School. 
 

April 12, 2006.  A new PowerPoint presentation regarding Hurricane Katrina and the recovery process is now available on the PowerPoint page.  For an application form for a LCLE grant click here.
 

March 23, 2006.  LIDAB is now accepting applications for the position of Director of the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana.  Click here for details.
 

February 16, 2006.  Janet C. Hoeffel and Donald North have both been appointed by the Governor to serve on the LIDAB board starting February 10, 2006.  Ms. Hoeffel will represent Tulane University Law School and Mr. North represents Southern University Law Center.  The LIDAB staff would like to extend a warm welcome to our newest members.
 

February 15, 2006.  Reverend Dan Krutz has been appointed by the Louisiana Interchurch Conference to replace outgoing board member Leo Hamilton, whose term ended with the new year.  We would like to thank Mr. Hamilton for his service to the indigent defense community and welcome Reverend Krutz to the board.
 

January 31, 2006.  The Governor has appointed Jerri G. Smitko to the position of Chairperson of the LIDAB board.  Ms. Smitko replaces outgoing Chair Duncan S. Kemp, III.  We would like to welcome Ms. Smitko to the board and also to thank Mr. Kemp for his years of dedicated service and to wish him and his family all the best.
 

January 31, 2006.  Lucy S. McGough has been appointed by the Governor to the LIDAB board.  Ms. McGough was appointed to represent Louisiana State University's Paul M. Hebert Law Center.  The LIDAB staff welcomes Ms. McGough to the board.
 

December 16, 2005.  LIDAB's temporary Shreveport office, which opened in early September in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, has closed.  Although LIDAB is still not able to occupy its New Orleans offices at present, all staff members are now residing and working in the New Orleans area.  LIDAB will be back in its offices at 1010 Common Street as soon as the building has been declared safe for occupation by the Fire Marshall.  In the meantime, we can still receive mail at that address and our main telephone and fax lines are being forwarded to a location where a LIDAB staff member can receive these calls.
 

November 16, 2005.  We would like to extend a warm welcome to LIDAB's newest board members, Luceia LeDoux and William A. Monteleone, Jr.  Both Ms. LeDoux and Mr. Monteleone were appointed to the board by Chief Justice Calogero to serve through 2009.
 

June 23, 2005.  Senate Bill 323 was sent to Governor Blanco for approval.  This indigent defense reform bill is potentially the beginning of wide ranging improvements in Louisiana's indigent defense system.  Click on the link to see the bill.
 

December  4, 2004.  Ronald F. Ware  has been appointed by the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to the LIDAB board as an ex-officio member.  Mr. Ware replaces LACDL's former ex-officio appointee, Walter M. Sanchez, who now serves on the board as a voting member.  The staff of LIDAB would like to take this opportunity to welcome Mr. Ware to the board.
 

October 29, 2004.  John Di Giulio has resigned from the board of LIDAB.  The staff of LIDAB would like to thank Mr. Di Giulio for his years of dedicated service and wish him the best for the future.  The Speaker of the House has appointed Walter M. Sanchez to replace Mr. Di Giulio.  Mr. Sanchez was currently serving on the LIDAB board as an ex-officio member at the time of his appointment.  We welcome him as a voting member of the board.
 

August 24, 2004.  Tarvald Smith was appointed to the LIDAB board by Governor Blanco.  Mr. Smith replaces outgoing board member Donald Phelps.  We would like to extend a warm welcome Mr. Smith and to thank Mr. Phelps as well for his years of dedicated service on the board and to wish him well in his future endeavors.
 

May 10, 2004.  Jelpi P. Picou, Jr. was hired by the LIDAB board as the new director of the Capital Appeals Project.  Best of luck in your new job Jelpi.
 

May 3, 2004.  The first meeting of the Louisiana Task Force on Indigent Defense Services is being jointly called by Mr. Terry Ryder, on behalf of Governor Kathleen Blanco; Senator Lydia P. Jackson; and Chief Justice Pascal F. Calogero, Jr.  The meeting is scheduled for Monday May 3, 2004 at 10:00 a.m. in the Senate Briefing Room in the Capitol Basement in Baton Rouge.
 

April 20, 2004.  The Capital Certification List is now available on this website.  Click on References (formerly called Forms) in the link bar then on Capital Certification List.  Also, there is now a page listing the members of the Task Force on Indigent Defense.  Click on the Task Force link in the link bar to access it.
 

April 16, 2004.  The 2004 Louisiana Public Defenders Directory is now on our website.  Go to the References (formerly Forms) page and click on Public Defender Directory.
 

April 16, 2004.  The Louisiana Bar Foundation will present David J. Utter, Director of the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, with its 2003 Distinguished Attorney award at its 18th annual Fellows Dinner at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in New Orleans.  Congratulations David!
 

February 12, 2004.  Sam Dileo, Jr. and William Norris were appointed by the Speaker of the House to the LIDAB board.  They replaced Michelle Ghetti and Richard Sarver whose terms on the board had expired.  We would like to welcome our new board members and thank our outgoing members for their dedicated service and to wish them well in their future endeavors.
  

October 16, 2003.  Anthony Champagne was elected by his fellow board members to be the Vice-Chairman of the LIDAB.
 

October 2, 2003.  Walter Sanchez has been appointed by the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Ex-Officio board member to replace Robert Glass.
 

March 24, 2003.  Robert Glass has been appointed by the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Ex-Officio board member to replace James Boren.
 

March 19, 2003.  Board Chairman, Cheney Joseph has resigned to devote more time to his position with the Louisiana Judicial College as well as his duties at LSU School of Law.  His short tenure as Chairman was extremely helpful and he will be missed.  Also appointed by the Governor is Leo C. Hamilton of Baton Rouge and appointed by the Speaker of the House is Richard Sarver of New Orleans.
 

February 24, 2003.  Two LIDAB Board Members and one ad hoc Board member have submitted their resignations.  Frank DeSalvo who was previously a Board member of the Orleans Parish Indigent Defender Panel has elected to return to that board membership.  Because of the dual officeholder law, he cannot serve on both boards.  Wayne Lee was the sole remaining member of the original LIDB board when it was created by the Supreme Court of Louisiana.  He has been elected the President of the Louisiana Bar Association and must step down from the LIDAB Board due to his new duties with the Bar Association.  James Boren has been the Ex-Officio board member representing the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers from the beginning of LIDB.  Although not a voting member, he has been active in the work of the board.  LIDAB wishes to thank each of these members for their service to LIDAB and indigent defense in the State of Louisiana.  Their participation will be missed.  We wish them success with their new duties.
 

February 21, 2003.  The State of Louisiana has cut the LIDAB FY 2002-2003 budget $350,000.  These cuts have been implemented across the board to all LIDAB programs.
 

October 23, 2002.  Anthony J. Marabella, Jr. was elected as district judge in East Baton Rouge Parish and has stepped down as chairman of LIDAB.  Cheney Joseph has now been appointed chairman replace him.
 

March 21, 2002.  Risley Triche, the original chairman of LIDAB has retired.  Governor Foster has appointed Anthony J. Marabella, Jr. of Baton Rouge to replace him.
 

February 8, 2002.  The LIDAB board has chosen to contract with Richard Goorley to be the Director of the Shreveport Regional Capital Conflict Panel, and Kerry Cuccia for the Southeast Regional Capital Conflict Panel, to be located in New Orleans.  both Mr. Goorely and Mr. Cuccia have extensive experience with capital litigation and Public Defender work.  Mr. Goorley was the Chief Assistant Public Defender in Shreveport for 8 years.  With these additions, none of our regional directors have worked on fewer than 20 Capital cases in their career, bringing substantial knowledge in the capital trial and appeal arenas.
 

October 17, 2001.  The LIDAB board has chosen to contract with David Price to be the Director of the Baton Rouge Regional Capital Conflict Panel.  Mr. Price has extensive experience with capital litigation and as the Deputy Director of the East Baton Rouge Public Defender Office.  The board has not reached a decision about the other two regions.
 

September 14, 2001.  The LIDAB board meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m., October 16, 2001.  At this meeting final candidates will be interviewed for the Director positions for the Regional Capital Conflict Program.

 

September 6, 2001.  The LIDAB search committee is reviewing the resumes for the Regional Capital Conflicts Program Directors.  The finalists for the positions will be notified to appear before the board's next meeting for an interview.  It is expected that the next meeting will be during the first week of October, 2001.  As soon as a date is selected, notice will be placed on this site.
 

July 31, 2001.  The LIDAB board voted to create a statewide regional system of offices to handle capital trial level cases which present a conflict of interest to local public defender offices.  Also, when available, counsel will be provided in those small, rural parishes that do not have certified capital counsel.  Resumes will be accepted for three Regional Director positions.        
                                                                                                                                                                                           

July 1, 2001.  The Louisiana Appellate Project has begun the responsibility of providing appellate representation of indigents sentenced to death.  LAP's representation will involve a direct appeal to the Supreme Court of Louisiana and a Cert application to the United States Supreme Court.  Thereafter, the Capital Post-Conviction Project of Louisiana will represent the indigent in any further proceedings.