Connecticut’s new top public defender 1st Black woman in job

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — For the first time, a Black woman has been appointed as Connecticut’s chief public defender. TaShun Bowden-Lewis officially began her job on Friday in the Division of Public Defender Services. She tells The Hartford Courant that she hopes to provide minority clients with a greater sense of trust in the state’s criminal justice system. She says she wants clients and families to understand her office is “in the trenches with them.” Bowden-Lewis was appointed in late May by the Public Defender Services Commission. The division represents clients in more than 100,000 criminal, child protection, delinquency defense, and family support cases annually.