Westmoreland County commissioners have moved quickly to fill a leadership vacancy in the public defender’s office.
The move comes after the man hired in February suffered a serious medical emergency that is expected to keep him off the job for a prolonged period.
James Spriestersbach, 41, was tapped in mid-February to head the office following a monthslong search to replace former Public Defender Wayne McGrew. McGrew resigned last summer after nearly a decade on the job. He was appointed the county’s second-ever public defender in 2012 to replace Dante Bertani, who held the post from its creation in 1969.
Spriestersbach worked as a lawyer in the office under McGrew before being named his replacement. After just three weeks on the job, he suffered what officials said was a life-threatening medical incident that is expected to keep him out of work indefinitely.
“We hope James can come back as soon as possible. He has a spot here in Westmoreland County,” Commissioner Sean Kertes said Monday.
Michael Garofalo, 49, of Latrobe, a nine-year veteran assistant in the office, was named Friday as acting public defender.
Kertes said Spriestersbach and Garofalo were finalists for the position. The office currently employs 11 attorneys and has been run on an interim basis since July by former assistant public defender John Sweeney, who retired earlier in 2024.
Garofalo has worked as an assistant public defender in the county since 2017. He said he fully supported Spriestersbach’s hiring and will “keep his seat warm” during the recovery.
“Our office is concerned for our friend and colleague. Everyone in the office will work hard to meet the needs of indigent defendants in Westmoreland County, as James intended,” Garofalo said.
The office operates with a $2.2 million annual budget and handled more than 3,500 new cases last year.
Garofalo said ongoing personnel changes have led to a reshuffling of cases, including the defense of a Brackenridge man facing a potential death penalty for the 2022 murder of his 9-year-old son. Both Spriestersbach and Garofalo were the attorneys of record for Jean J. Charles, 43, who is accused in the strangulation death of Azuree Charles in New Kensington.
Spriestersbach and Garofalo were the only attorneys in the office certified to represent clients in death penalty cases, which require two certified lawyers to serve on a defense team. With Spriestersbach’s absence, the public defender’s office is unable to represent Charles, Garofalo said.
Westmoreland County Common Pleas Court Judge Meagan Bilik-DeFazio appointed private defense attorneys Brian Aston and Ken Noga to represent Charles. The move is expected to further delay a trial that has been pending for four years.