Oversight Board

NORMA AGUILAR is the Training Director at Federal Defenders of San Diego, Inc. She began working at Federal Defenders after graduating from Berkeley Law School in 2000.

MELODY BRANNON is the Federal Public Defender for the District of Kansas. After receiving her law degree from the University of Oklahoma School of Law, Melody began her legal career with the Oklahoma County Public Defender.

LAINE CARDARELLA received her law degree from the University of Kansas in 1991. She practiced for 7 years with the Missouri State Public Defender System before joining the Federal Public Defender's office in the Western District of Missouri.

On December 7, 2020, MICHAEL CARTER became the executive director of the Federal Community Defender Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

JACKIE, as she is known to everyone, is the First Assistant for the Federal Public Defender Office for the Northern District of Ohio. She has served as a tireless defender since 1987.

STEPHEN C. NEWMAN was appointed Federal Public Defender for the Northern District of Ohio by the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in February 2016 and began his third term in May 2024.

LORI TEICHER has been the First Assistant Federal Public Defender since 2011 and has focused on habeas litigation since 2003. Lori has been practicing criminal law in Nevada since 1996.