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Robyn Veasey is currently serving as First Assistant Public Defender, where she plays a key role in guiding the agency’s work and advocating for historically vulnerable populations across New Jersey. 

Robyn’s journey with the NJOPD began in 2004, when she first joined as an attorney representing parents in the family regulation system in Essex County. Her experience and leadership led to her promotion in 2011 to Deputy Public Defender, supervising the Central Region for the Office of Parental Representation (OPR). During this time, she was also appointed to the Children-in-Court Improvement Committee, part of the Administrative Office of the Courts’ Family Division that oversees child welfare’s intersection with the courts.

In 2012, Robyn became the Managing Attorney for the Appellate Section of OPR, a position she held until 2021, when she became an Assistant Public Defender. She is a graduate of Rutgers University School of Law-Newark and Gettysburg College.  

Prior to joining the OPD, Traci Telemaque enjoyed a career in women’s health care with the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services in Long Beach, California. In 1998, she relocated to New Jersey to pursue her legal career. In 2001 Ms. Telemaque received her J.D. from Rutgers University School of Law in Newark. She clerked for the late Honorable David Waks in Passaic County and the Honorable William R. DeLorenzo, Jr., Bergen County.

Ms. Telemaque joined the Office of Law Guardian (OLG) in 2003 as a staff attorney. Until 2011 she represented minors in child abuse and neglect litigation in Hudson County. In 2011, she was promoted to Managing Attorney of the Essex County OLG. In 2015, she was promoted to Managing Attorney of the OLG Northern Region (Bergen and Hudson counties). She is a member of the OLG Training, Youth in Transition and Ethics Committees, and is a trainer for the Hudson County CASA program. In 2017 she became an Assistant Public Defender position and assumed statewide supervision over the Office of Law Guardian.

Assistant Public Defender Joseph J. Russo formerly served as the First Assistant Public Defender, Deputy Public Defender of the NJOPD state-wide Appellate Section, and Deputy Public Defender of the Hudson Trial Region. He worked for many years in the Warren Trial Region, which included serving as the Acting Deputy Public Defender. Joe is the only public defender in NJOPD history to serve as a managing attorney of the Appellate Section and Criminal Trial Regions. As a result of Joe’s advocacy and leadership role in reforming the parole system, and his representation of juveniles sentenced to life in prison, in 2023, he was appointed to be the Director of the Parole Revocation and Resentencing Unit.    

Joe has argued important cases before the Supreme Court and Appellate Division. He argued State v. Comer on behalf of amicus curiae NJOPD in which the Supreme Court held that juveniles sentenced to a mandatory thirty years in prison for murder are entitled to look-back hearings. Joe successfully argued State v. Thomas before the Appellate Division which extended the holding of Comer. He argued the most significant parole case in New Jersey history, Acoli v. N.J.S.P.B., on behalf of amicus curiae NJOPD. Joe argued State v. Andujar, a historical case in which the Supreme Court called for a Judicial Conference on Jury Selection. In State v. S.S., Joe successfully argued a seminal invocation case before the Supreme Court, where the Court changed the standard of review in video-taped confession cases.  

In State v. J.L.G., Joe litigated the first Frye Hearing in history involving the Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome (CSAAS), where a unanimous Supreme Court upheld the trial court finding that CSAAS is not scientifically reliable. Joe successfully argued the first case before the Appellate Division, State v. R.G., which outlined standards for forcibly medicating incompetent defendants to restore competency. And in State in the Interest of Z.S., he argued the first major case interpreting the 2016 juvenile waiver statute.

Joe was named the 2017 Criminal Lawyer of the Year by the Hudson County Bar Association. Joe was appointed as Chairperson of a Working Group of the Criminal Sentencing and Disposition Commission entitled Issues Related to the Right to Counsel in Parole Hearings. He serves on the Board of Trustees of the Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers of New Jersey. Joe was a member of the New Jersey State Bar Association Working Group on Jury Selection. He was a long-standing member of the Supreme Court Model Criminal Jury Charge Committee and now serves on the Supreme Court Criminal Practice Committee. Joe clerked for the Honorable Rufus King III in the District of Columbia Superior Court.

As an Assistant Public Defender, Fletcher Duddy oversees the agency’s Civil Litigation, Megan’s Law, Intensive Supervision Program, Expungement, and Recovery Court practices. Additionally, he plays a key administrative role in various capacities, including processing and responding to civil subpoenas served on the agency.   

Prior to his appointment as Assistant Public Defender, Fletcher served for nearly a decade as the Deputy of the agency’s Special Litigation Unit, where he prosecuted civil rights actions on behalf of the agency, including those related to the remote incarceration of county jail detainees and conditions of confinement in county jails. As a Deputy, he also served as the Chief Counsel to the NJOPD’s statewide Megan’s Law practice, where he represented individuals at every level of the state’s court system, including the Supreme Court of New Jersey. Additionally, he was responsible for coordinating and delivering statewide training programs as well as for working on several legislative initiatives in the state. 

Fletcher is a graduate of Rutgers School of Law, Camden, and has an undergraduate degree in History from Rowan University. He began his legal career by clerking for the Honorable Louise DiRenzo Donaldson, R.J.S.C., in the Criminal Division of Camden County Superior Court. Prior to becoming an attorney, Fletcher served in U.S. Coast Guard and worked in the maritime shipping industry, working as a project manager in the response and mitigation of marine oil spills.  He lives with his wife and four children in West Deptford, New Jersey. 

Kelly Lerner Sanders is the Director of the Division of Mental Health Advocacy in the Office of the Public Defender (OPD).  In this role, Lerner Sanders closely collaborates with Public Defender Jennifer Sellitti to ensure mental health services are efficiently integrated into the OPD holistic, person-focused defense model. This approach allows for a more comprehensive understanding of mental health issues, provide tailored and integrated treatment plans, improve court outcomes, and reduce the stigma for those affected.

As Director, Lerner Sanders oversees the office’s legal representation in matters involving mental health across practice areas, including mental health criminal courts, mental health evaluations, Krol hearings, competency issues, and other relevant issues associated with individuals involved in the criminal justice system. Additionally, she works with Public Defender Sellitti in developing policies and in executing, enforcing, and interpreting such policies as they relate to mental health courts or competency issues.  She engages in advocacy efforts aimed at reforming policies and practices to reduce inequities and improve outcomes for all New Jerseyans by lobbying for new laws, changed laws, and unifying protocols based on data and cost saving demonstrations. 

Previously serving as an Assistant Deputy Public Defender, Lerner Sanders represented clients with severe and persistent mental illnesses and co-occurring substance abuse disorders since 2013. She regularly litigated legal competency motions and offered support to attorneys throughout the state regarding intellectually and mentally vulnerable clients. Lerner Sanders also conducted training, through the NJOPD and other organizations, focused on litigating mental health cases. For example, she conducted and co-presented on topics such as: recognizing and representing persons with severe mental illnesses; neurocognitive disabilities; traumatic brain injuries; and the unique issues representing veterans.

Lerner Sanders began her career in 2003 as a staff attorney with the Essex County Public Defender’s Office following a criminal clerkship with the Honorable Thomas R. Vena of the New Jersey Superior Court. She received her J.D. from New York Law School and her B.S. from Delaware Valley University.

Assistant Public Defender Prescott Loveland supervises and supports several criminal trial regions in addition to OPD’s collaborative defense programs including the forensic, immigration, and navigator units. Prescott joined OPD in 2024 after about nine years with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS). At PDS, Prescott represented adults and juveniles in D.C. Superior Court and was a supervisor of the PDS Trial Division. Prescott was also a member of the PDS Hiring Committee and the Forensic Practice Group, and he was involved in cross division strategic planning. Prescott’s trial and litigation experience includes complex forensic and mental health issues and defending children prosecuted as adults. Prescott teaches and trains on trial advocacy, sentencing mitigation, team defense, client-centered representation, and trauma-informed practice.

Prescott is trained in both law and social work. He has a JD and MSW from Fordham University. In 2015, he was named Fordham Law’s Public Service Valedictorian, and he received the law school’s top award for trial advocacy. At Fordham, Prescott co-founded the Fordham Law Defenders, he was a Stein Scholar for Public Interest Law, and he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Brendan Moore Trial Advocacy Program.

Before becoming a public defender, Prescott worked as a defense investigator, as a co-facilitator of an empowerment program for unhoused New Yorkers, and as a strategy consultant for nonprofit organizations.

Prescott was born and raised in New Jersey, and he is a proud father of twins.

Jennifer Perez, Assistant Public Defender and leader of the Division of Engagement and Research, leverages her deep knowledge of governmental systems and external databases to enhance NJOPD’s operational efficiency. In collaboration with fellow Assistant Public Defenders, she oversees short- and long-term strategic initiatives that support policy development, strategic planning, and research and data projects.

A certified public manager trained through the National Center for State Courts’ Institute for Court Management, Jennifer guides NJOPD’s use of technology and data as well as engagement with internal and external stakeholders. She oversees a team of public defenders, data scientists, legislative experts, and communications professionals that gather, evaluate, and disseminate information supporting evidence-based practices, informing policy decisions, and amplifying the voices of those most impacted by New Jersey’s legal system.

Jennifer joined NJOPD following a 26-year tenure at the New Jersey Judiciary, where she most recently served as director of trial court services. In this capacity, she collaborated across divisions on crucial policy, technology, data analysis, and operational matters, overseeing significant initiatives such as the implementation of legislative mandates, eCourts electronic filing, and Criminal Justice Reform.

Jennifer earned her J.D. from Rutgers Law School-Camden and her B.A. in International Relations/Economics from Saint Joseph’s University. She served as a law clerk to Superior Court Judge Joseph M. Nardi Jr. before joining the firm of Klein and Halden as an associate. She later worked at Dubois, Sheehan, Hamilton & Levin.