Orleans Public Defenders

Who We Are

OPD's Mental Health Unit Director Barksdale Hortenstine, Jr. Named CityBusiness Leader in Law

: News; 18 July 2022

New Orleans, LA – The Orleans Public Defenders (OPD) is proud to announce the selection of Barksdale Hortenstine, Jr. as a recipient of the 2022 CityBusiness Leader in Law. Hortenstine is the Director of OPD’s Mental Health Unit, and as one of two court-appointed honorees, is among 50 of New Orleans’ top legal professionals recognized for moving the legal community forward with energy, innovative ideas, achievements and a commitment to excellence.

OPD Statement on Recent Deaths in Jail and the Abrupt Court Closures

: News; 13 June 2022

We are saddened by the recent deaths of our community members in the jail and our thoughts are with their families and communities. Spending just one day in jail is disruptive and traumatizing.

Legendary New Orleans Musician Walter Wolfman Washington Dedicates Show to OPD and Right to Counsel

: News; 28 March 2022

New Orleans, LA - Legendary New Orleans blues musician Walter Wolfman Washington will join forces to present New Orleans’ Concerts for Indigent Defense March 30, 2022 at 9 pm at d.b.a. on Frenchman Street. The event follows Gideon Day on March 18, the anniversary of the Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel, and is the first in a yearlong, nationwide celebration of the upcoming 60th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright in 2023. It also recognizes and honors OPD’s continued fight for dignity, justice and hope in New Orleans’ criminal legal system. The concert will also be livestreamed.

OPD Chosen for Black Public Defender Association's Community Engagement Fellowship

: News; 25 March 2022

OPD was recently chosen as one of four sites to hos the summer, 12-week Community Engagement Fellowship. OPD joins the Alameda County Public Defenders in Oakland, CA, the Nashville Metropolitan Public Defender's Office, and the Legal Aid Society in New York.

The BPDA Community Engagement Fellowship is a 12-week summer program that pairs Black undergraduate and graduate HBCU students, who aspire to do racial equity and community defense work, with public defender offices. This internship opportunity will offer hands-on lessons about addressing systemic issues of racism that plague the legal system while inspiring young people to achieve their educational goals and consider careers in public defense.

"We are thrilled and honored to be chosen for the fellowship and to be in the company of some extraordinary fighters for justice. There is much work to be done at the local and state level, in both policy and practice, to write the sins of the past and ensure they do not follow us into the future.

Building a pipeline of Black defenders is one of BPDA’s core pillars. BPDA exists to support all Black defenders, including attorneys, paralegals, social workers, mitigation specialists, investigators, and client advocates. The BPDA Community Engagement Fellowship is open to students seeking careers in all areas of public defense. The BPDA Community Engagement Fellowship also provides an opportunity for four public defender offices access to a fully paid full-time intern for the summer at little to no cost to them. The goal is for public defender offices to be able to implement a project or program that expands their outreach to the communities they serve in an effort to promote racial equity.

OPD Statement on Bonds, Wealth-Based Detention and Misinformation in the Current Conversations Around Crime

: News; 09 February 2022

Like many communities in the Deep South, New Orleans has a long history of injustice: systemic racism, discrimination, violence (in our communities and state-sponsored), and mass incarceration. The current narrative being peddled about crime in our community and our criminal legal system seems to ignore this history, opting instead to paint an incorrect, misleading and less than full picture.

OPD Statement on Proposed Crime Solutions

: News; 20 January 2022

New Orleanians deserve a safe city. But solutions that only prioritize reactionary measures do little to address the root causes of violence. Blindly returning to mass incarceration tactics that are proven failures won’t do anything to prevent or solve crime. Sweeping one-size-fits-all policies and strategies that fail to heed those lessons do our community a disservice.