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Schuster excels in advocate role as assistant state public defender

By: Alex Zank//September 22, 2016//

Schuster excels in advocate role as assistant state public defender

By: Alex Zank//September 22, 2016//

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Jessica Schuster - Assistant State Public Defender (Staff Photo by Kevin Harnack)
Jessica Schuster –
Assistant State
Public Defender (Staff Photo by Kevin Harnack)

The cases that Jessica Schuster largely works on have garnered quite a bit of attention in recent months, to say the least.

Schuster, an assistant state public defender in the Merrill trial office, mostly takes cases involving the Lincoln Hills School for Boys. This juvenile correctional institution in Irma has been a subject of public outrage in recent months following revelations that many of the delinquents being held there were suffering mistreatment.

Schuster, a native of Merrill, said the first case that was handed to her after she had started at the Merrill office about 5-½ years ago involved a boy at Lincoln Hills.

“It became something I always take,” she said.

Since the Lincoln Hills scandal came to light, Schuster has served as the primary liaison between state public defender attorneys and staff at both Lincoln Hills and the Copper Lakes School for Girls, especially when the attorneys have questions or concerns about clients housed in either institution.

Aside from all this, Schuster has a heavy caseload. Within a three-week period this July, for instance, she opened 25 new cases, including six felonies and four mental commitments.

Despite her workload and the recently added media scrutiny that comes with some of these cases, Schuster said her job has actually been a bit easier since the revelations at Lincoln Hills. She and her colleagues had been saying for years that things were bad for the boys detained there.

She noted that many parents whose children are being held at Lincoln Hills seem to be taking a greater interest in what’s happening there. Things can be especially tough for them since many of the boys at Lincoln Hills are from the Milwaukee area.

“Once that stuff came to light, I think they (the parents) have been more proactive in contacting me, getting back to me,” Schuster said.

And Schuster’s connections to Lincoln Hills do not stop with her job. She noted her father helped build the institution several decades ago.

A native of Merrill, Schuster said her familiarity with the area proved to be an asset in her current work. It meant that, when she took the job, she had already built relationships with many of the people she works with regularly. Schuster also noted that she has represented a few of her former classmates in some cases, as well.

 

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