Public defender put on paid leave during audit

Shannon O'Brien Glen Dewar, Montgomery County Public Defender

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By Lou Grieco, Staff Writer Updated 10:49 AM Saturday, March 20, 2010

DAYTON — Montgomery County Public Defender Glen Dewar was placed on paid administrative leave Friday, March 19, and the commission that oversees him voted to ask for an audit of his office.

The Public Defender Commission, a five-person body that oversees the office, voted unanimously to suspend Dewar.

Under that motion, the commission will ask county Auditor Karl Keith to review expenditures by the Public Defender’s office during 2009 and 2010.

Dewar could not be reached for comment Friday.

Commission members Penny Wolff, Dianne Marx, Jacqueline Gaines, Tom Whelley and Steve Dankof all declined comment after the meeting, during which they were in executive session for more than two hours.

Keith said there were questions about whether Dewar’s office had proper authorization for certain computer-related projects, but there was no indication of “anything missing.” He said the audit would take about a week.

Dewar has been public defender since 2000. The commission named deputy director Rudy Wehner to serve as acting director.

Minutes from a March 9 commission meeting show that Dewar told the commission he did not go through the county’s data processing board when buying computer equipment. He explained that he felt he did not have to because he believed his office was excluded from the state’s data processing statute, just as the common pleas court and court of appeals are.

Dewar also was questioned about his office’s relationship with Dayton Municipal Court, where judges have discussed not renewing the city’s contract with the office.

In December, Administrative Judge Carl S. Henderson signed an order that said the docket of newly appointed Judge Deirdre E. Logan was too congested. That order suspended the appointment of assistant public defenders to cases on Logan’s docket.

Henderson wrote then: “Due to the number of cases assigned to the Public Defender’s office, it is unlikely that the public defenders can adequately and efficiently prepare a proper defense, which may result in prejudice to the defendants.”

The Public Defender’s office, which provides legal services to indigent criminal defendants, employed 75 people in 2007, according to payroll records.

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