Brazos County commission approves expanding the public defender's office

This podcast contains comments from the August 19, 2025 Brazos County commission meeting.In 2022, Brazos County commissioners created a public defender's office to represent adults who cannot afford a lawyer.A state grant helped pay for the initial staff of ten people.Commissioners at this week's meeting (August 19) accepted more state grant money to continue paying a share of keeping the original staff, and to establish new divisions dealing with juveniles, those with mental health issues, and address appeals.The four to one vote expanding the public defender's office followed one hour of discussion. Most of that involved adding the juvenile division.Brazos County currently contracts for indigent juvenile court cases with a private legal firm that is owned by Patrick Gendron. Gendron and Brazos County's chief public defender, Nathan Wood, disagreed on the effectiveness of the current contract and the need for the new division. And Brazos County district judge David Hilburn said there will always be a need for the county to provide private attorneys to represent juveniles who cannot afford a lawyer.Brazos County district court administrative judge Kyle Hawthorne shared his experience representing indigent clients in addressing the need for more defense attorneys that in part can be provided by an expanded public defender's office.Click HERE to read and download the grant that extends partial funding of the original positions of the Brazos County public defender's office.Click HERE to read and download the grant that adds funding for the new juvenile and appellate divisions of the Brazos County public defender's office.Click HERE to read and download the grant that adds funding for the new mental health appellate division of the Brazos County public defender's office.