Connecticut’s top public defender fired for misconduct alleged by oversight commission

HARTFORD, Conn. — An oversight committee on Tuesday fired Connecticut’s top public defender after accusing her of a series of misconduct, including making baseless accusations of racism, assaulting employees and unlawfully accessing staff and employee emails. chairman of the committee.

The termination of TaShun Bowden-Lewis, the first Black person to serve as the state’s top public defender, came by unanimous vote of the Public Defender Services Commission in Hartford. The panel held two public meetings in April Bowden-Lewis denied 16 allegations of misconduct and accused the panel of interfering with her legal authority to run the office.

“Ms. Bowden-Lewis, we recognize that this is a very difficult time for everyone, including you, the division and the committee,” committee chairman Richard Palmer said after the panel voted. “When this committee was appointed, we started with great hope for the future and never expected or wanted me to be here today. It is the committee’s sincere hope that better days lie ahead for you and for the division. Thank you.”

Bowden-Lewis, hired two years ago, attended the meeting with her attorney Thomas Bucci. She declined to comment after the vote.

Bucci, a former mayor of Bridgeport, later told The Associated Press that Bowden-Lewis planned to appeal what he called an “unlawful removal.”

“This was a lopsided process, an unfair process, designed to fire a very capable and competent director who protected the integrity of the institution,” Bucci said in a telephone interview.

Bowden-Lewis previously said the commission scrutinized her far more than her predecessors and interfered with the authority given her by state law. She also said an independent review by a law firm of her actions found she did not discriminate, harass or create a hostile work environment, although Palmer had questioned her interpretation of the findings.

Dozens of Bowden-Lewis’ supporters attended a hearing on April 16 and said she should not be fired.

The commission reprimanded Bowden-Lewis in October for alleged “inappropriate and unacceptable” behavior and placed her on the list paid administrative leave in February, the same day, the public defenders union voted 121-9 to have no confidence in its leadership. The reprimand included nine directives to Bowden-Lewis, some of which she failed to follow, the committee said.

The union said in a statement Tuesday that it supported the committee’s decision to fire Bowden-Lewis and that the past two years have been marred by “controversy and dysfunction.”

The commission alleged that Bowden-Lewis created a work environment of fear and retaliation and made baseless accusations of racial discrimination against those who disagreed with her, including employees and Palmer, a retired Supreme Court justice.

Bowden-Lewis was also accused of a pattern of mistreating employees, refusing to recognize the committee’s authority, ignoring its directives and improperly directing a subordinate to search employees’ and Palmer’s emails without their knowledge.

Although the chief public defender can view employees’ emails without their knowledge, this can only be done for a valid reason, and Bowden-Lewis did not have one, according to Palmer. Bowden-Lewis said in April that the Attorney General’s Office policy allowed her to search every employee’s email and that no reason was required, an answer that some committee members appeared to disagree with.

Palmer said Bowden-Lewis received emails between him and the commission’s legal counsel early this year as the commission investigated alleged misconduct by Bowden-Lewis. He said these emails were potentially confidential and privileged for legal reasons.

Bowden-Lewis was also accused of reprimanding the legal counsel without just cause, in apparent retaliation for the counsel’s cooperation with the committee and disloyalty to her, according to a notice of the allegations to Bowden-Lewis. The committee later withdrew its reprimand of the legal advisor.

In one of the first public signs of the acrimony between Bowden-Lewis and the commission, four of the panel’s five members resigned early last year after Bowden-Lewis made accusations of racism and threatened a lawsuit over the panel’s rejection committee of her choice for human resources matters. director, The Hartford Courant reports.

The Public Defender’s Office has more than 400 employees, including attorneys, investigators, social workers and other staff who help lower-income people who cannot afford attorneys in criminal and other cases.

Bowden-Lewis recently won a local award from a statewide advocacy group for promoting the inclusion and advancement of attorneys of color.