Virginia Indigent Defense Commission
The Virginia Indigent Defense Commission (VIDC) provides legal defense to those accused of crimes unable to afford a private lawyer. VIDC operates 28 offices across the Commonwealth of Virginia. VIDC also manages the certification of public defenders and court-appointed attorneys throughout Virginia and provides training to defense attorneys. VIDC relies on a non-traditional "holistic" approach that also sees attorneys arranging social supports, addiction services and other assistance for those accused of crime, to reduce recidivism rates. History

Public Defender Commission (1972–2004)
In 1972, the Virginia General Assembly piloted two Public Defender offices to determine if they would work better than appointing private attorneys to cases with indigent clients. The Staunton office was opened first, followed by the Virginia Beach office a few months later. The first chief public defender of the Staunton office, Coy M. Kiser, Jr. started the office with one investigator, a secretary, and two part-time assistant public defenders. Kiser was appointed to a judgeship two years later and was replaced by William E. Bobbitt, who served in the Staunton office for over thirty years. Virginia Indigent Defense Commission (2004–present)
Following the American Bar Association's "scathing report on the state of indigent defense in Virginia", the VIDC was established by statute in 2004 and replaced the Public Defender Commission. The VIDC replaced court-appointed lawyers in death penalty cases with full-time public defenders. David Johnson was named Executive Director of the agency in 2005. In March 2021, Virginia banned capital punishment and VIDC announced that the capital defense offices located in Vienna, Norfolk, Roanoke, and Richmond would close. In September 2022, Maria Jankowski was promoted from Deputy Executive Director of VIDC to Executive Director after David Johnson retired. Timothy Coyne, the former Chief Public Defender for the Winchester and Front Royal offices, was named to replace Jankowski as Deputy Executive Director of the commission. In 2023 it was revealed that some of the offices were struggling with workload, with 30% fewer lawyers than expected and each one handling up to 200 cases. In 2020, several VIDC employees attended a protest in Portsmouth and three were charged with felony vandalism of a Confederate monument, alongside state senator Louise Lucas, and three NAACP representatives. Judge Claire G. Cardwell dismissed the charges in November 2020. Cardwell determined that police went around prosecutors to file charges and attempted to prevent Morales from prosecuting the case by subpoenaing her as a witness. The three public defenders and eight others received settlement checks from the city for $15,000 each. Locations

 Alexandria
 Arlington County
 Bedford
 Charlottesville
 Chesapeake
 Chesterfield
 Danville
 Fairfax
 Franklin
 Fredericksburg - serves Stafford, Spotsylvania, and King George counties

 Front Royal - serves Shenandoah, Warren, and Page counties
 Halifax
 Hampton
 Leesburg - serves Loudoun County
 Lexington
 Lynchburg
 Martinsville
 Newport News
 Norfolk
 Petersburg

 Portsmouth
 Prince William County
 Pulaski
 Richmond
 Roanoke
 Staunton - serves Augusta and Rockbridge counties
 Suffolk
 Virginia Beach
 Warrenton
 Winchester - serves Frederick County and Clarke County

Notable employees and former employees
 Claire G. Cardwell, judge for the Thirteenth Circuit of Virginia
 Coy M. Kiser, Jr. (1933-2012), first public defender in Virginia and judge in the General District Court of the 25th Judicial District of Virginia
 Brenda Spry, judge for the Third Circuit of Virginia

References

Legal aid in the United States
Government of Virginia
Criminal defense organizations
Public defense institutions