Armstrong County fires 3 public defenders, they sue. County revamps department.

Three Armstrong County public defenders who were fired last month have filed a civil case against the Armstrong County Board of Commissioners in federal court in Pittsburgh.

The lawsuit, filed Dec. 2, accused the county commissioners of wrongful discharge, breach of the terms and conditions of employment agreements and multiple violations of the Sunshine Act.

The public defenders also contend they should have been entitled to insurance benefits and a pension like other county employees.

Since the dismissal of the three attorneys, Armstrong County has restructured its public defenders office from four part-time contracted defenders to one full-time public defender, an assistant and future staff employees, according Aaron S. Poole, the county’s chief administrator, who issued a statement to the Tribune-Review.

The county hired its new full-time public defender, James Spriestersbach, on Nov. 7, about four days after three of the four part-time defenders were fired.

Former chief public defender Chuck Pascal and assistant public defenders Stephanie McFadden and James Wray were informed via email late in the workday on Nov. 3 that they had lost their jobs, according to Pascal.

The attorney representing the public defenders, Tom King of Dillion, McCandless, King, Coulter and Graham of Butler, has requested an injunction in federal court for the defenders to be reinstated.

The lawsuit also requests back pay, reimbursement for lost benefits, other benefits, attorney’s fees and the cost of litigation.

“Our case is about a group of dedicated employees who spent many years representing residents as the county is required to do,” King said. “They performed their duty in a professional way.”

The county failed to provide a hearing regarding employment issues, as guaranteed by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling, King said. Additionally, the county commissioners violated the Sunshine Act multiple times with regard to the defenders’ employment, he said.

“There should have been discussions made in public, as well as the decision and actions should have been in public.”

Poole said the county decided to restructure its Public Defender’s Office after it received complaints from clients, coworkers and department heads. The commissioners made multiple attempts to meet and discuss the complaints with the office, but “they received no meaningful response,” Poole said.

Since the restructuring, the commissioners have received a lot of positive feedback and complaints have decreased, Poole said.

King had no comment on Poole’s statement.

“We will have a great opportunity in discovery to see exactly what the commissioners were talking about,” he said. “The commissioners did this behind closed doors.”

Pascal, who is vice president of Leechburg Council and a former vice president of the Public Defenders Association of Pennsylvania, had been working for Armstrong’s Public Defender’s Office part time for 17 years.

The office typically handles between 400 and 450 cases at any given time, he said. The office has been without an office manager and secretarial support for most of the year, Pascal said, because the county fired the worker over his objection.

“The attorneys in the Public Defender’s Office are dedicated to representing indigent clients despite the chronic underfunding of the office,” he said. “The newly hired chief public defender is a very good attorney, and I’m sure that he is dedicated to the work and clients. But he also is stepping into an underfunded and under-resourced office.”

Armstrong County ranked second to last in a state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee study last year examining how much each county spends for its public defender services per capita: $3.25.

“Morale in every county department is low,” Pascal said. “In general, county employees are underpaid for difficult work.”