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History

[DRAFT]

In 1971, pursuant to the Criminal Justice Act, 18 U.S.C.§ 3006A, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit approved the creation of The Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Southern District of Texas. In July, 1974, Roland E. Dahlin II was named the first Federal Public Defender for the district. Mr. Dahlin retired after thirty years of dedicated service in August, 2004. On August 31, 2004, Marjorie A. Meyers succeeded him as the Federal Public Defender.

The Federal Public Defender is headquartered in Houston. When the office opened, there were staffed branch offices in Brownsville and Laredo, Texas. Staffed branch offices were opened in McAllen in 1988 and in Corpus Christi in 1990. The Federal Public Defender is also responsible for representing individuals in Victoria and Galveston, Texas. In 1974, there were five attorneys in the Federal Public Defender’s Office. By 2010, there were fifty-nine attorneys, sixteen investigators and a total of 118 employees. The number of clients served by the office has grown exponentially. In fiscal year 2010, the Federal Public Defender opened 24,914 cases.