Edward C. Monahan, Public Advocate

Edward C. Monahan began as a public defender in 1976. He was appointed Kentucky Public Advocate by the Governor September 1, 2008 to a four year term and reappointed to a second four year term September 2012. The Department of Public Advocacy (DPA) is the statewide public defender program under KRS Chapter 31 http://www.lrc.ky.gov/KRS/031-00/CHAPTER.HTM  He is a member of the American Council of Chief Defenders (ACCD) and a member of its Executive Committee (2008-present), chaired its Leadership and Education Committee (2008-2010) and chaired its Executive Committee (2010-2012). He chaired ACCD’s Pretrial Release Workgroup that recommended ACCD’s June 4, 2011 Policy Statement on Fair and Effective Pretrial Justice Practices http://www.nlada.org/Defender/Defender_ACCD/ACCDpretrialrelease ACCD is a section of the National Legal Aid & Defender Association comprised of chief defenders from across the nation dedicated to securing a fair justice system and ensuring high quality legal representation for poor people who face loss of life, freedom or family. Monahan is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and co-chairs its Committee on Pretrial Release Advocacy. Ed is a charter board member of the Kentucky Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (1986 - present), was its president (2011) and chairs its Education Committee (2011-present), is past chair of the Kentucky Bar Association’s (KBA) Criminal Law Section, was a member of the KBA Ethics Committee (2000-2007; 2008-2011). From 2004 - 2008, Monahan was Executive Director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky serving as liaison to government and the legislature, and coordinating communications and activities between the church and secular agencies, and doing the public policy work for the Kentucky Catholic bishops on a variety of social justice areas including criminal justice, immigration, Medicaid, children’s health insurance, restoration of voting rights for ex-felons, the death penalty. Monahan served as Deputy Public Advocate from 1996-2004 coordinating DPA’s legislative efforts and was a public defender with the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy from 1976 - 2004, representing capital clients at trial, on appeal, and in post-conviction in state and federal courts. He was co-counsel in Gall v. Parker, 231 F.3d 265 (6th Cir. 2000) and Kordenbrock v. Scroggy, 919 F.2d 1091 (6th Cir. 1990) (en banc) both granting federal habeas relief to clients sentenced to death. Monahan was counsel in Binion v. Commonwealth, 891 S.W.2d 383 (Ky. 1995) where the Kentucky Supreme Court recognized the need for defense experts: "We are persuaded that in an adversarial system of criminal justice, due process requires a level playing field at trial.... [T]here is a need for more than just an examination by a neutral psychiatrist. It also means that there must be an appointment of a psychiatrist to provide assistance to the accused to help evaluate the strength of his defense. To offer his own expert diagnosis at trial, and to identify weaknesses in the prosecution's case by testifying and/or preparing counsel to cross-examine opposing experts." Ed grew up in Ludlow, Kentucky and is a 1976 graduate of Washington D.C.’s Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law and a 1973 graduate of Thomas More College. He served as a Kentucky appellate defender from 1976-80. In 1980, he headed up DPA’s Local Assistance Branch, which provided supervision of DPA trial representation services. From 1981 - 2001, he directed DPA’s nationally recognized statewide public defender education and development program that features an annual conference, a newly-hired attorney education program, a week long litigation persuasion institute, quarterly leadership education for DPA’s supervisors. Ed edited The Advocate, DPA’s journal of education and research, from 1984 – 2004, and was vice-chair or co-chair of the National Legal Aid and Defender Association’s training section from 1990 - 2004. His publications include:

• Criminal Defendant's Pretrial Discovery Right to a Lineup, Casenote, 24 Cath. U.L. Rev. 360 (1975)
• Deciding to Train for Quality Service: Quality is the Only Acceptable Standard, NLADA Cornerstone, Vol. 14, No. 3 (Fall 1992).
• The Fiend Unmasked: Developing the Mental Health Dimensions of the Defense, ABA Criminal Justice, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer 1993) co-authored with James J. Clark, MSW, and Lane J. Veltkamp, MSW, reprinted in Indiana Defender (August 1998).
• Excessive Workload ethics article co-authored with James J. Clark, MSW in ABA Ethics Manual for Public Defenders (1994). Reviewed in Beyond A Book Review: Using Clinical Scholarships in Our Teaching, 2 Clinical L.Rev. 251, 271-72 (1995); Book Review, ABA Criminal Justice, Vol. 10, No. 4 (Winter 1996) at 22; reprinted in Taslitz & Paris, Constitutional Criminal Procedure (1997) and in Constitutional Criminal Procedure (3d ed 2007)
• The Mental Health Expert: Eight Steps to Integrating a Specialist into Your Case, ABA Criminal Justice, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Summer 1996) at 2, co-authored with James J. Clark, Ph.D.
• Coaching Defenders: Developing a Helping Relationship, NLADA's Cornerstone, Vol. 18, No. 2 (1996) (co-authored with James J. Clark, Ph.D.)
• Performance Coaching: Strategies for Defender Managers, NLADA's Cornerstone, Vol. 18, No. 3 (1996) (co-authored with James J. Clark, Ph.D.)
• Funds for Resources for Indigent Defendants Represented by Retained Counsel, NACDL's The Champion, Vol. 20, No. 10 (Dec. 1996) at 16, co-authored with James J. Clark, Ph.D.
• Boundaries Between Attorneys & Clients, NLADA Cornerstone, Vol. 19, No. 1 (Spring 1997) at 14.
• Preparing the New Law Graduate to Practice Law: A View from the Trenches, co-authored with Rodney J. Uphoff and James J. Clark, Ph.D., 64 Univ. Cin. L.Rev. 381 (1997).
• At the Millennium Will We Be Settlers or Pioneers?, New York State Defenders Association's The Defender (July 1997) at 52.
• Strategic Planning for Defender Organizations: Creating Our Future the Common Sense Way, NLADA Cornerstone, Vol. 20, No. 1 (Spring 1998) at 4.