The director of the state public defense office will step down next month, capping a three-year run that brought some steadiness to an often frantic, but always fervent, agency that sets out to protect the rights of criminal defendants.

The office serves Montanans who can’t afford attorneys but have a constitutional right to one when facing a criminal prosecution. It’s an important role in a complex and often messy justice system, where the needs regularly outpace the resources available. Those drawn to public defense work tend to be a kind of “true believers” in the cause, willing to take lower pay and work more hours to carry out that public service.

Above this fray, the Office of the Public Defender manages that statewide system’s resources and works the bureaucratic levers to keep th

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