Legislature set to vote on public defender pick
Ruth Boyer tells committee she’s ‘a perfect fit’
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Members of the Ulster County Legislature’s Law Enforcement and Public Safety Committee peppered Ruth Boyer with questions about her experience as a defense attorney and her thoughts on new criminal justice reforms before sending her nomination as Public Defender to the full Legislature for consideration.
Boyer was nominated by County Executive Pat Ryan to be the next chief public defender in September, t wo months after county legislators declined to confirm Lauren Sheeley, Ryan’s first pick for the post.
“I feel that I’m uniquely a perfect fit for this position,” Boyer told committee members Wednesday.
A graduate of CUNY Law School, Boyer served for 10 years as a senior public defender for the Dutchess County Public Defender’s Office and for more than 4 years in the Ulster County Public Defender’s Office before becom
ing a private practice attorney specializing in criminal defense and Family Court law, she said. Most recently, Boyer was the principal law clerk for state Supreme Court Justice Christopher Cahill. She left that post on Sept. 28 to become the county’s acting public defender.
In response to questioning by committee members, Boyer said that she as a public defender and defense attorney she handled hundreds of criminal cases from inception to resolution, including negotiating plea bargains, presenting to a grand jury and defending clients in jury trials.
She said she handled only one jury trial while an Ulster County public defender, but more than two dozen felony trials while in Dutchess County and has represented clients in a number of high profile cases, including murder, attempted murder gang assaults, robbery and highlevel drug felonies.
Boyer did not speak to her experience in Family Court law — which comprises a significant portion of the Public Defender’s workload — and conceded that she has limited managerial experience.
Boyer said she had two years of experience managing staff at a bank, but none managing a staff of attorneys. She said though that she was a “senior attorney” who others in the offices she worked sought out.
“I was a senior attorney that a lot of attorneys came to for advice and counsel,” she said. “I have been a person they sought out to be their supervisor.”
Boyer said she supports the state’s bail reform laws and laws requiring prosecutors to turn over evidence to the defense early in criminal proceedings and said she would recruit new employees for the office from law schools that place an emphasis on training public defenders.
She said she submitted her resume for consideration for the position after the Legislature rejected
Sheeley’s nomination.
If confirmed by the Legislature Boyer would become the first woman and the first person of color to head the Public Defender’s Office.
She would succeed former Ulster County Public Defender Andrew Kossover, who was let go in February amid allegations by Ryan that Kossover mismanaged the Public Defender’s Office and failed to submit requests for state reimbursement totaling nearly $2.5 million.
Kossover later filed a notice of claim indicating he intended to sue Ryan and the county over his firing.
Ryan nominated Sheeley in June, but the Legislature rejected her in a 14-9 vote that crossed party lines. Opponents said she lacked the qualifications to become chief defense attorney for the county’s indigent population.
Committee members voted unanimously and without discussion to send Boyle’s nomination to the full Legislature for consideration at its Oct. 20 meeting.