Longtime public defender dies while hiking

Former New Haven Chief Public Defender Thomas Ullmann died Friday while hiking in New York’s Adirondack Mountains, according to multiple sources.

New York State Police said Saturday they found the body of a hiker somewhere along the OK Slip Falls Trail, which begins outside of Indian Lake, N.Y. The hiker was identified as Thomas Ullmann, according to the New York State Police. The trail, which is about 6.7 miles long and ends near a waterfall, is located about 74 miles southwest of Lake Placid, N.Y.

Police have not released a cause of death.

Ullmann, 67, had retired from his job last August. He worked for 32 years with the New Haven Public Defender’s Office, which handles defendants who are too indigent to hire private attorneys.

Members of the New Haven area legal community said Saturday they were stunned to learn of Ullmann’s death.

“Tommy was a giant and the notion that he’s gone is hard to fathom,” Norman Pattis, a friend of Ullmann’s and a prominent New Haven area defense attorney, said Saturday. “Life is very cruel.”

Ullmann is perhaps best know for representing Steven J. Hayes in 2010 for murdering Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Michaela, 11, and Hayley, 17 following a botched 2007 home invasion in Cheshire.

Ullmann headed the New Haven Public Defenders Office for 25 years.