Decision is deferred on future of Bowden-Lewis

First Black chief public defender in Conn.faces discipline

— The state Public Defender Services Commission on Thursday heard final arguments from Chief Public Defender TaShun Bowden-Lewis and her lawyer in its hearing over whether

Bowden-Lewis should be disciplined — possibly by dismissal — but made no decision.

After the arguments, the commission chairman, retired state Supreme Court Justice Richard N. Palmer, said the commission would not make a decision Thursday, although it voted to go into a closed-door session to begin its deliberations. Palmer said the decision will be announced at a future commission meeting.

In her final argument, Bowden-Lewis, Connecticut’s first Black chief public defender, said, “This is my life’s work.”

She said her goal is to “shake the foundation of the criminal justice system so much that it breaks down the middle” and is remade in a more diverse and equitable form.

Among the accusations against Bowden-Lewis in a 26-page statement of charges released by the commission is that she mistreated certain employees of the Division of Public Defender Services.

She told the commission that, if she marginalized anyone, “it was not my intent, and I apologize.”

But she made clear that she believed others also bore responsibility for problems in the leadership of the division. She said the 20 months she spent actively doing the job before she was placed on administrative leave in February were “plagued with hyper-scrutiny and micromanagement.”

Thursday’s meeting was the second session of the commission’s hearing on Bowden-Lewis’ future. It was held in public at her request, and several people who attended the meeting were clearly there to support her.

Bowden-Lewis’ lawyer, Thomas W. Bucci, argued that some of the conflicts between her and the commission stemmed from misunderstanding of the law by the commission which he said “unilaterally usurped the authority” to appoint the division’s human resources director.