A public defender in Birmingham, Alabama, has been placed on paid administrative leave pending an investigation into claims the Jefferson County Public Defender’s Office is fostering what some employees call a “racially hostile” work environment.
A letter signed by several attorneys in the office accuses David Luker of using “racially hostile language” on more than one occasion, including the n-word when “when talking about clients, their families, witnesses, and generally when expressing his displeasure,” local station WBRC 6 reported.
Public defender’s office attorneys claim David Luker used the n-word when talking about clients, their families and even just to generally express his displeasure. (Image courtesy of WBRC 6)
In the letter, attorneys also claim Luker brought in supervisors who shared his same racist views.
Retired private attorney and former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Ralph Cook, who is Black, will oversee the investigation into the allegations, Jefferson County Presiding Judge Joseph Boohaker said. Investigators will submit their report to the Alabama Indigent Defense Board director, who’ll then forward it to a five-member advisory panel for review.
Luker was appointed director of the county’s public defender in September 2016, just four years after the office was created for the purpose of “serving people who can’t afford legal representation in the Criminal Courts of the Birmingham Division of Jefferson County.” Statistical Atlas.com shows that the office serves a community that’s overwhelmingly Black — 72 percent to be exact.
“I wanted Jefferson County’s Public Defender’s Office to be the best in the state — the best in the South, even. Let’s make it the best it can be,” Luker said at the time.
Things seem to have taken a downward turn since then.
Attorneys in the office wrote of Luker’s “indiscriminate use of racial slurs” and noted how he would say them “publicly and during work hours.”
“Because of the unique and pivotal role the Public Defenders office plays in our community, coupled with the inability of an indigent client to choose an attorney, these racially derogatory views carry far more weight than similar views held by a private attorney,” they wrote. “We fear the reputation of the Public Defender’s Office is at stake, as well as the reputations of all the individuals associated with this office.”
A three-member fact-finding panel began investigating the claims last Thursday, according to WBRC. Boohaker said he hopes the investigation is finished by March 1.
So far, Luker hasn’t commented on the allegations.
