A former state-employed public defender whose law license has been suspended due to a series of shoplifting incidents says the low pay associated with the job led to her crimes.

Court records indicate that earlier this year attorney Cassi Corinn Wigington, who worked as a public defender in western Iowa, consented to a nine-month disciplinary suspension of her license to practice law in Iowa. She requested a suspension of no more than 30 days.

In consenting to a suspension, Wigington confessed to stealing hundreds of items from a Hy-Vee grocery store but argued that in her position as a state public defender she was under enormous financial pressure. State employment records indicate that in fiscal year 2023, Wigington was paid $76,544 as a public defender.

“When I accepted the position

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