Chautauqua County Public Defender's Skill and Dedication Praised

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NYSDA ED Susan C. Bryant presented Nathaniel L. (Ned) Barone, Chautauqua County Public Defender, with NYSDA's 2023 Wilfred R. O'Connor Award

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY (08/10/2023) (readMedia)-- Attorneys in the office of Chautauqua County Public Defender Nathaniel L. (Ned) Barone lauded his receiving the 2023 Wilfred R. O'Connor Award from the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA); it was presented at NYSDA's Annual Conference on July 31st. "Ned is a zealous advocate for our clients. Ned is a tremendous trial attorney and his record speaks for itself," said John P. (Pat) Rice, who has worked for Barone since Barone became the Public Defender in 2012. Rice added: "[h]e lives and breathes Public Defense and has passed that enthusiasm on to the Attorneys that currently work for him."

Heather Burley, another Assistant Public Defender, concurred. Barone, she explained, "treats everyone he encounters with the 'inalienable dignity of the human person', which guides his sense of duty in even the most difficult legal cases. He demands equal justice, sometimes literally, and always unflinchingly."

These comments demonstrate why Barone was selected to receive an award that honors a public defense attorney in practice fifteen or more years who exemplifies the client-centered sense of justice, persistence, and compassion that characterized the life of the late Bill O'Connor, a past President of NYSDA.

Barone's accomplishments as head of the Public Defender Office were also extolled. Assistant Public Defender Derek V. Gregory noted that Barone used his "skills to transform the [office] from a part-time organization providing limited services into a full-time, comprehensive, holistic organization dedicated to improving the lives of clients." Supreme Court Justice Grace M. Hanlon made similar observations. "Through Ned's leadership he transformed the Public Defender Office from less than ten part time assistants with one investigator, to a law office with over 20 full time assistants in the criminal and family court divisions, with a substantial expansion of support staff, including additional investigators, paralegals and advocates," Hanlon wrote to NYSDA.

Barone pressed for, and utilized well, state funding made available to counties through the Indigent Legal Services Office. He has spoken out about the crucial need for state funding-and criticized then-Governor Andrew Cuomo's veto of legislation to expand state funding in 2017, noting that at that time, about 20 to 25 percent of his office budget came from state grants, helping maintain a steady budget while handling up to 5,000 criminal cases and upwards of 2,000 cases in family court a year. More recently, he also spoke out in favor of bail and discovery reform, sometimes as a lonely voice in his area. He is a member of NYSDA as well as the Chief Defenders Association of New York and the New York State Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

Barone "has drawn upon the trials and tribulations of his life experience to dedicate himself to providing extremely effective, unwavering, and non-judgmental representation to his clients in a compassionate manner," according to Gregory. Barone's tribulations include health issues that led to two organ transplants in 2005. This year, during Donate Life month, Barone recounted in an ObserverToday.com story how his life was saved by the decision of two grieving parents whose seven-year-old son died in an asthma attack; they opted for organ donation. "I can't even begin to understand how a person has the strength and courage to do that," Barone-himself a single parent of three-said in the article. But the remarks in support of his recent award make clear that Barone also demonstrates strength and courage, and has changed others' lives.

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