A daughter of Haitian immigrants, Natasha Dartigue was supposed to be a medical student, the Long Island, New York native having majored in biology as an undergraduate.

Fast forward more than three decades and Dartigue is the Maryland public defender, having been appointed to the office in May. She is the first person of color to hold the position, and her cultural identity gives it greater meaning.

“As a woman of color when I come into certain spaces and speak about [criminal justice] issues, it is more personal,” she said.

Dartigue graduated from Howard University’s law school in 1995 and began her legal career as a law clerk for the late Baltimore Circuit Judge Roger W. Brown. Dartigue then joined the city public defender’s office, where she got a taste of what it was like to represent the indigent, visiting jails and prisons. It was supposed to be a five-year plan, Dartigue said, with her eyes set on returning to New York after getting some experience here.

“If you had told my twenty-something self to fast forward 26 years and I would be the public defender and throughout my career I would have been going in and out of institutions, I would have laughed,” Dartigue said.

To be a public defender is to accept that every day is an uphill battle; whether it’s against the court system, the prosecutors or the police.

“It’s not for the faint of heart, because we see people at their most difficult and desperate moments,” Dartigue said. “But there’s something so beautiful about sitting next to someone and being able to connect with them, and them having that feeling that it’s the first time they’re actually heard.”

One of Dartigue’s top priorities, she said, is to ensure her staff, from the attorneys to the social workers to the paralegals, have the resources and salaries they need to stay with the work.

“Having been a public defender my entire legal career, I understand the needs of the people I lead,” Dartigue said.

— Lee O. Sanderlin