McCarthy appointed for four more years

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July 4, 2012

McCarthy appointed for four more years

Rachel Brown rachelbrown@daltoncitizen.com The Dalton Daily Citizen Wed Jul 04, 2012, 10:30 PM EDT

Conasauga Judicial Circuit Public Defender Mike McCarthy has been re-appointed to the position for another four years.

McCarthy has worked in the public defender’s office since 2005, when he began as an assistant public defender. He moved up to the top position in January 2007 after then-chief Bentley Adams left for a job in Atlanta. McCarthy’s second full term began July 1 after a re-appointment by Georgia Public Defender Standards Council Executive Director W. Travis Sakrison, he said. The Conasauga Judicial Circuit covers Whitfield and Murray counties.

“I enjoy the work and representing our clients,” McCarthy said. “We get young attorneys coming in here, and I like working with them and helping to educate and train them.”

A 1988 graduate of Mercer University School of Law, McCarthy received his undergraduate degree from Virginia Military Institute. After college, he did five years of active duty in the Navy, he said, then became an assistant district attorney, working at separate times in the Lookout Mountain circuit as well as in Whitfield County and Houston County.

Later, he went into private practice for 11 years, working in Dalton and doing “a lot of criminal defense work.” He joined the public defender’s office in January 2005, the first year it opened.

The public defender’s office represents defendants who fall under federal poverty guidelines and don’t have enough assets to potentially hire an attorney on their own. McCarthy said the office averages about 4,000 new cases each year, handling “the majority” of cases that go to court.

McCarthy said his state- and locally-funded office normally staffs 16, including 10 assistant public defenders and himself. The annual budget for the office is about $1.2 million.

The veteran lawyer said he tries to look carefully at each case that comes to him.

“You have to recognize that no matter what, the state has the burden to prove someone is guilty,” he said. “You might feel that your client is guilty when you first approach a case or you first get into a case, but you’ve got to dig and see what the evidence is.

“Sometimes people might feel (to you) like they’re guilty, but they might not be guilty of what they’re charged with ... That’s part of the lawyer’s role, to investigate and find out what happened.”

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McCarthy appointed for four more years

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