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| Honorable Michael J. Pelletier State Appellate Defender |
Mr. Pelletier has spent his entire legal career with the State Appellate Defender, first in Ottawa, and then in Chicago. For the past 20 years, he has been Deputy Defender in the First Judicial District and chief administrator in the Chicago office over a staff which includes 100 attorneys and 24 support persons. The Office of the Appellate Defender was created by Illinois statute to handle all the criminal appeals of indigent defendants in the Illinois Appellate Court and the Illinois Supreme Court. Its caseload now consists of about 3,000 a year. Mr. Pelletier was appointed as Illinois's second State Appellate Defender by the Supreme Court and has held that position since 2007. Through the Office, Mr. Pelletier and other attorneys provide quality appellate legal services to the indigent, and have also recently been authorized to provide trial level advising services to defense attorneys handling capital cases. Mr. Pelletier graduated with his juris doctor degree in 1976 from The John Marshall Law School. He received a B.A. degree in political science from Northern Illinois University in 1972. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court and the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. He is a member of the Illinois State Bar Association and its Criminal Justice Section and a former member of the Section Council. He also is a member of the Appellate Lawyers Association and a former member of its Board of Directors. Mr. Pelletier also belongs to the National Legal Aid and Defender Association. |
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