Genesee County Public Defender Horton Honored

SARATOGA, NY (07/26/2011)(readMedia)-- Gary Horton, the Genesee County Public Defender, received the Wilfred R. O'Connor Award from the New York State Defenders Association (NYSDA) on July 25 in Saratoga Springs. The award 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 the Association.

Horton became the full time head of his office in 1998, after serving in the role part-time for seven years and as an assistant public defender for two years before that.

The breadth of his commitment to justice and his compassion is reflected by many things. In 2002 the Genesee County Mental Health Association gave him the Constance E. Miller Award for demonstrated commitment to excellence pertinent to the delivery and/or advocacy of quality community-based mental health services in Genesee County. Horton made determined efforts from the beginning, a decade ago, to make his county's drug court work for clients; his efforts to ensure that military veterans benefit from that court bore fruit in 2009 with the establishment of the drug court's Veterans Service Coordination and Mentoring program.

Horton's pro bono representation of "the Forgotten Victims of Attica," corrections officers who survived and the families of those who died in the Attica prison uprising of 1971, illustrated his ability to see the need for justice in widely divergent circumstances. It also required great persistence. A state settlement was obtained in 2005.

The NYSDA award recognized Horton's many contributions to clients, his community, and to NYSDA as a board member, chief defender, and friend. His assistance to NYSDA has been sustained and varied. As just one example, hearings held in 2003 on the "Adequacy of Defense Services Available to Farm Workers in Genesee, Orleans and Monroe Counties" could not have occurred without his help.

Others honored by the Association this year include Stephen J. Pittari, recently retired Chief Counsel and Executive Director of the Legal Aid Society of Westchester County and Norman Shapiro, a private attorney practicing in Orange County and a NYSDA founding member, both of whom received the Service of Justice Award. Heather Toole, Ulster County Assistant Public Defender, was presented with an award created by the Genesee County Public Defender Office in memory of a young staff lawyer, Kevin M. Andersen, whose hallmarks were a sense of justice, determination, and compassion.

NYSDA, a not-for-profit, membership organization, has been providing support to New York's criminal defense community since 1967. Its mission is to improve the quality and scope of publicly supported legal representation to low income people.