Fired public defender claims age discrimination

PHILADELPHIA » A former Delaware County public defender claims in a federal lawsuit that he was fired from his position in the office earlier this year due to his age and disabilities associated with a stroke he suffered several years ago.

Leigh J. Bechtle, 71, is alleging claims for violations of the Rehabilitation Act, Americans with Disabilities Act and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, for which he is seeking compensatory and related damages.

According to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania last month, Bechtle graduated cum laude from Ohio University and earned his law degree from Widener University School of Law before his admittance to the Pennsylvania Bar in 1979.

He spent 35 years in private practice doing defense work and related litigation before joining the Public Defender’s Office in August 2014, according to the complaint filed by attorney Marc Weinstein. Bechtle suffered a stroke shortly after joining the office, however, which rendered his vocal cords partially paralyzed. Despite that setback, Weinstein said Bechtle worked diligently to regain use on the left side of his body and continue in his role as a public defender.

Weinstein said Bechtle spent years successfully handling court cases for the office’s juvenile unit before he was transferred to the appeals unit in February of this year, allegedly due to a complaint from one or more judges who said they could not understand his speech.

The complaint claims there was no effort made to implement technology that could help judges better understand Bechtle before his transfer. The office shut down shortly thereafter due to COVID-19 and Bechtle ended up writing only two brief memoranda before his termination in August, Weinstein said.

The county hired Christopher Welsh as the new director for the office in July. Welsh previously spoken to the Daily Times about his vision to implement several reforms there, including bringing on new attorneys.

Bechtle was fired approximately one month after Welsh came in. The reason given was that his memoranda were “bad, and below the standards he was hired to uphold,” according to the complaint.

Weinstein said he believes that reason was fabricated and that Bechtle was really terminated because he did not fit Welsh’s vision for the office.

“Delaware County lost a skilled, experienced public defender simply because Welsh has a vision of what the defenders should look like: Young and rugged,” said Weinstein. “Leigh Bechtle is not young and he is not rugged. But he is tenacious and he knows how to skillfully do his job, and we believe that a jury will demand that he get his job back.”

The complaint notes that during his four decades as an attorney, Bechtle provided seminars and speeches to various associations and agencies around the country, including the Pennsylvania Bar Institute. He also served as a faculty member of the Intensive Trial Advocacy Program at the Widener School of Law and published pieces including a 60-page medical legal article for Andrews Publications in Wayne, according to the complaint.

“He’s been an acclaimed writer, not just in court but with other legal publications,” said Weinstein. “So the idea that his writing was bad – such that he should be abruptly fired – is fantastical. Something else was at play and we believe we will be able to show that it was due to a presumption about his age and disability.”

Welsh did not respond to a request for comment on this story, but Delaware County Solicitor William Martin provided the following statement:

“The county is not going to comment on the specifics of pending litigation, but people should understand that when you’re trying to reform an office that has not had its central focus being the service of its clients for too many years, there will be significant changes and there will be individuals who will be impacted by those changes that may think they have an ax to grind. It is Mr. Welsh’s objective to turn this into a firstclass office that provides the appropriate defense and service to indigent clients, and that’s his priority and we believe the steps he has been taking so far are in accordance with law and we will aggressively defend the county.”

“Of course the new public defender should implement changes in accordance with his vision for the office and those changes may well result in staff changes,” said Weinstein. “However, it is both grotesque and illegal to just presume that older workers or workers with a disability cannot adjust to such changes.”

Weinstein said his client was “devastated” by his termination, having worked for years to recover and continue his service in the public defender’s office despite his debilitating condition.

“But Leigh Bechtle didn’t give up after this stroke and he sure as hell isn’t going to give up now,” Weinstein said.

Bechtle is not seeking a specific amount of damages, but the complaint lists “all pay and benefits” he would otherwise have been entitled to, as well as compensatory damages for the pain, suffering, mental anguish and humiliation he allegedly suffered.

The complaint also seeks an order barring the county from “maintaining its illegal policy, practice, or custom of discriminating against employees based on their disability or perceived disability, and/or age,” and directing it to promulgate an effective policy against such alleged discrimination.

The county has until Feb. 7 to file a response. The case has been assigned to District Judge Michael Baylson.