The head of a state public defender office had been suspended for 75 days by a Michigan Hearing Panel.

Based on the evidence presented at hearings held in this matter in accordance with MCR 9.115, Kent County Hearing Panel #4 found that respondent committed professional misconduct in his role as the director of the Muskegon Public Defender’s Office, and that respondent failed to properly supervise both his lawyer and nonlawyer employees by failing to have proper conflicts of interest policies in place and by failing to ensure that proper measures were in place to screen for and avoid conflicts of interest, as set forth in a formal complaint filed by the Grievance Administrator.