Montco pays $310K to settle suit by ex-public defenders
>> Montgomery County has reached a $310,000 settlement in a federal lawsuit brought by two former officials of the county public defender’s office who claimed they were wrongfully fired “in retaliation” for filing an amicus brief in a case regarding the fairness of cash bail.
Dean M. Beer, the former chief public defender in the county, will receive $200,000, and Keisha Hudson, the former deputy chief public defender, will receive $110,000 under the recent settlement, Kelly Cofrancisco, director of communications for the county, confirmed on Tuesday.
Attempts to reach Patricia Pierce, of the Philadelphia law firm of Greenbelt, Pierce, Funt and Flores, which represented Beer, and David Rudovsky, of the Philadelphia law firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin,
who represented Hudson, for comment about the settlement were unsuccessful on Tuesday.
Cofrancisco said county officials do not comment on personnel matters.
But in an emailed statement Cofranciso added, “It is our position that the systematic failures of cash bail practices in Montgomery County needed to be addressed. In fact, the cash bail system has been the number one criminal justice reform priority for this administration.”
“We have worked diligently with the courts, public defender and the district attorney since 2018 on an initiative to identify best practices to end the unjust practice of incarcerating individuals, a disproportionate number of whom are African American, simply because they cannot afford the bail that was set,” Cofrancisco added in the statement.
Cofrancisco said the county commissioners voted in 2019 to fund a newly created pretrial services division to end the cash bail system “as we know it.”
“The commissioners voted again in 2020 to fund 10 newly created positions in the 2021 budget to continue the implementation of this important reform as well,” Cofrancisco added. “Achieving this goal has been – and will continue to be – our highest criminal justice reform priority.”
Additionally, Cofrancisco said, the county engaged Temple University to research ways the county can improve the governance and operations of the public defender’s office.
A preliminary report, “Strengthening the Office of the Montco Public Defender” was released last month and officials of the Temple University Beasley School of Law’s Sheller Center for Social Justice held a virtual town hall to discuss key findings of the report and to gain feedback from the public.
The county had entered a $30,000 contract with the university in July 2020 for research and consulting services to review the existing public defender’s office.
“The commissioners are committed to taking action on the items under its purview once the report is finalized,” Cofrancisco said.
In his federal lawsuit, Beer alleged he was wrongfully fired “in retaliation” for filing an amicus brief in a case regarding the fairness of cash bail.
In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Beer, of Berwyn, had asked a judge to restore him to the position of chief public defender with a contract stating that he may only be fired for “just cause.” The suit also sought compensatory damages for past and future financial loss, “emotional distress and reputational harm,” as well as punitive damages.
The suit alleged county officials violated Beer’s First Amendment rights and his right to independence under Pennsylvania law.
“Dean Beer was fired for taking aim at a bail system that routinely and unjustly penalizes poor and marginalized people of color,” Pierce alleged in the suit on behalf of Beer.
County commissioners Dr. Valerie Arkoosh, Kenneth E. Lawrence Jr. and Joseph C. Gale and county Chief Operating Officer Lee Soltysiak were listed as defendants in the suit.
On Feb. 25, 2020, Beer and Hudson were let go from their posts during a shakeup that sent shockwaves throughout the courthouse.