CHANGES ARE COMING TO THE BERRIEN COUNTY COURTHOUSE LATER THIS YEAR

By DEBRA HAIGHT

BCR Correspondent

ST. JOSEPH – Changes are coming to the Berrien County Courthouse in St. Joseph this year, not only with the retirement of two longtime judges but also with the appointment of new leadership to head the county’s Public Defender Office.

Berrien County Commissioners recognized the efforts of Carl Macpherson in being

the first person to head the Public Defender Office at their meeting last week. He was appointed to the post in October 2016 and served in that position until his resignation last week. He leaves Berrien County to lead the Metropolitan Public Defender Office in Portland, Oregon.

“Carl … established an office that serves as a model for other Michigan counties for the provision of indigent defense services,” commissioners wrote in a resolution. “… Now, therefore, be it hereby resolved that the Berrien County Board of Commissioners deems it appropriate to honor and thank Carl Macpherson for being a true asset to the citizens of Berrien County.”

During his tenure in Berrien County, he first helped the county in deciding what course to take in terms of improving services to indigent defendants. He took on that task in March 2016 and spent several months conducting research on how best to serve the needs of individuals who cannot afford to hire a private attorney.

Berrien County Commissioners voted to establish the new office in the fall of 2016, moving away from the long practice of contracting with private attorneys to provide such services.

As Macpherson noted in a 2017 interview with the Berrien County Record, Michigan has been cited for years for its lack of adequate indigent defense services and was recently ranked in the bottom 10 states in the country when it comes to money spent on indigent defense services.

Statewide, the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission was established in 2013 in response to lawsuits and other concerns raised about the state’s failure to provide adequate indigent services to poor criminal defendants. The state commission since then has established guidelines and standards for indigent defense services.

Not having proper representation can have a number of consequences including more incarceration in the form of unnecessary pretrial detention, excessive sentences and wrongful convictions, he said then.

Changes instituted during his tenure have included defendants having the opportunity to talk to an attorney at the time of their arraignment and attorneys having the chance to better represent their clients. The Public Defender Office has a staff of eight attorneys, one office manager, a part-time investigator and two legal secretaries.

Macpherson’s time in Berrien County has been spent both in administration of the Public Defender Office and in the courtroom serving clients. His last case here in the county concluded last week when his client, Davion Turner, was acquitted of murder charges in connection with the 2017 River Terrace murder in Benton Harbor.

In addition to honoring Macpherson at their meeting last week, county commissioners also voted to appoint Chief Assistant Public Defender Christopher Renna as the Interim Chief Public Defender. Renna will serve in that capacity until a permanent replacement for Macpherson is found, at a annual salary of $103,517.

Commissioners noted that Renna’s appointment is for three months but could be extended. His former position will remain vacant over that time but another attorney will be added to the office to assist with the case load.

Renna has held the Chief Assistant Public Defender position since January. Previously, he worked as an assistant federal public defender in the Federal Public Defender office for Western Michigan in Grand Rapids from September 2016 to January. Before that, he was an Assistant Public Defender for Washtenaw County for nine years.

Renna has also worked as an intern in the Federal Public Defender office for the District of Columbia as well as the California Innocence Project. He received his master of law degree from the California Western School of Law and his doctor of law degree from the Thomas Cooley Law School in Michigan.

As for judicial changes, Berrien County Trial Court Administrator Carrie Smietanka-

Haney confirmed last week that Gov. Rich Snyder has appointed Judge Donna Howard to fill retired Judge John Donahue’s post in the Circuit Court. Donahue retired at the end of June.

Smietanka-Haney said the governor will now appoint someone to fill the remainder of Howard’s term in District Court as well as the rest of Judge Scott Schofield’s term in Circuit Court. Schofield has announced that he is retiring at the end of August. Both Howard and Schofield’s terms expire in 2020.

She said she doesn’t expect any additional court restructuring until the governor’s appointments are made later this year. Chief Judge Gary Bruce earlier this year re-assigned Howard from the criminal to the civil division upon Donahue’s retirement.