In the landmark case of Gideon v. Wainright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that states are required to provide an attorney to those charged with a crime, who are unable to afford their own. 

Long before Gideon, and even predating statehood (1890), Idaho had provisions for the right to counsel. The Idaho 1874 Territorial Criminal Practice Act gave defendants the right to assistance of counsel.

In 1887, the Idaho Revised Statutes also provided for court-appointed counsel. This right was affirmed by the Idaho Supreme Court in 1923 in State v. Montroy, 217 P. 611, 614 (1923) where the court stated, “In the case of indigent persons accused of crime, the court must assign counsel to the defense at public expense.

Shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Gideon mandating the right of counsel to indigent defendants, Ada County contracted with Howard Manweiler and Mac Redford to become Ada County’s first official public defenders.

In 1978, the last contract public defender in Ada County, Charles McDevitt, successfully lobbied Ada County to establish an in-house, county-funded public defender’s office.

On October 1, 1978, Klaus Wiebe became Ada County’s first Chief Public Defender. Six years later, in 1984, Alan E. Trimming was appointed to head the office, which consisted of 10 attorneys.

In September 2016, Anthony R. Geddes was appointed by the Board of County Commissioners as Ada County’s third Chief Public Defender. The office now has 84 employees consisting of 56 attorneys, 21 support staff, six investigators, and one social worker.