Public Defender
The Lake County Public Defender's Office provides legal defense services to indigents charged with a felony in Lake County, Indiana. We commit ourselves to the goal of ensuring equal justice through quality representation, and we employ an accomplished team of professionals to achieve this end: Attorneys, Paralegals, Legal Sectaries, Investigators and Law Clerks. Our qualified attorneys fight to uphold the constitutional protections the law affords to those accused of crimes, and we dedicate ourselves to the pursuit of "liberty and justice for all."
“The right of one charged with crime to counsel may not be deemed fundamental and essential to fair trials in some countries, but it is in ours. From the very beginning, our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair trials before impartial tribunals in which every defendant stands equal before the law. This noble ideal cannot be realized if the poor man charged with crime has to face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him.”
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
Our Team
Thomas W. Vanes
Assistant Chief Public Defender
Marvin Smith
Executive Director
Marce Gonzalez, Jr.
Chief Public Defender
Joseph L. Curosh III
IT Specialist Public Defender
