BRAZOS COUNTY, Texas (KRHD) — Brazos County's public defender's office will soon expand its services to include a dedicated juvenile division, thanks to a new state grant from the Texas Indigent Defense Commission.
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The office, which was established through a state grant in 2022, will use the new funding to create a specialized division focused on representing young defendants.
"That's what we want is better outcomes for all of our clients and it's you know nowhere is that more important than with our juvenile clients," said Nathan Wood, chief public defender for Brazos County.
The juvenile division will include three attorneys, an investigator and a legal assistant. Wood said the expansion addresses a critical need in the county's justice system.
"The county has to appoint counsel for every juvenile. They can still go out and hire their own private attorney, but 100% of juveniles have to be afforded counsel," Wood said.
Wood emphasized that representing juveniles often means helping them overcome poor decisions and getting them back on the right path.
"No person, especially a child or an adolescent, should be judged and classified for the rest of their lives based on what is probably their worst day," Wood said.
While the office is not yet fully staffed, Wood expects the new division to begin operations soon after funding begins.
"I would imagine we will phase in that division over the course of the first six months that we have funding," Wood said.
"We don't really need to be fully staffed in order to start taking cases," Wood said.
Brazos County Commissioners approved the grant to expand the public defender office with a 4-1 vote at their Aug. 19 meeting. The funding will begin on Oct. 1, and Wood hopes the division will be fully staffed and operational by the end of March 2026.
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