The U.S. Constitution guarantees that anyone who is accused of a crime has the right to represented by a lawyer. When a defendant can’t afford an attorney, the state must provide one. In our community, the Keene Public Defender Office fulfills this Constitutional right. Managing Attorney Alex Parsons of the Keene Public Defender graduated from Keene State (History, ’97; the first person in his family to attend college), earned his law degree from Yale Law School, and has worked in public defense throughout his law career. He discusses the role of public defenders and trends in criminal and public defense law and answers questions about this important part of our criminal justice system.