LONGTIME PUBLIC DEFENDER TAKES A NEW POST

The longest-serving district defender in Missouri will leave the public defender's office for the last time Tuesday after almost 19 years on the job.

Gary Robbins was hired July 1, 1977, as the first public defender in the Cape Girardeau-Bollinger counties judicial circuit, working in Jackson. More than 25 assistant public defenders later, Robbins is resigning as district defender to become a legal adviser with the Missouri Division of Workers Compensation in Cape Girardeau.

No other district defender in Missouri has been at the helm of an office as long as Robbins.

Robins said: "I've always told the new people coming into the office that I have two rules here: One, 'Your word is your bond,' and two, 'We're here to help clients.'"

Robbins leaves his position overseeing public defenders in five counties: Bollinger, Cape Girardeau, Mississippi, Perry and Scott.

Circuit Judge William Syler said the public defender's office was experiencing a "great loss" with Robbins' departure. He said the office and clients were served by a great professional.

"You don't get many people with Gary's experience in the public defender's office," he said. "The court will feel the effects."

With Robbins' departure the most experienced lawyer in the office has a year and half in trial court. State officials hope to replace Robbins with a seasoned lawyer by June.

Not only does the district defender have clients, he also runs the office, assigning cases to one of five assistant public defenders.

"He has done an extremely good job representing criminal defendants in this area," said Circuit Judge John Grimm. "Many of the people he has as clients really don't appreciate his expertise.

"He'll be missed."

Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle agreed: "He truly believed in his clients' rights but didn't burden the court with frivolous matters. I would hope that whoever they find to replace him would be as professional as he has been."

Robbins said he has handled more than 200 jury trials and served as counsel in countless other proceedings.

One of many that stand out in his memory is the case of Ray Bibb Jr., who was arrested in 1978 after being linked to the Thanksgiving Day murder of a truck driver. After several meetings with Bibb before his first court appearance, Robbins, who was serving as his attorney, expected his 25-year-old client to plead innocent so he would have an opportunity to study the evidence and advise his client about a later guilty plea.

But when the judge asked Bibb to enter the plea, Robbins said his client looked at the judge and said, "If I tell a lie I'll go to hell, so I'll have to plead guilty."

Then-judge A. J. Seier sentenced Bibb to death but Robbins argued the merits of the sentencing before the Missouri Supreme Court; not once but twice, an unusual event.

The Supreme Court gave Robbins the opportunity to argue a life imprisonment sentence in front of a Cole County jury. The jury sided with Robbins, and Bibb was taken off of death row.

A rape case involving a man who recently graduated from the Missouri Highway Patrol Academy also was a memorable event for Robbins.

The trooper, Leatrice Little, was convicted in the 1980 rape of a Cape Girardeau woman but Robbins got the conviction overturned when the court agreed that the testimony of the victim, who had been placed under hypnosis, couldn't be used in court.

Robbins estimates that he has had about 30,000 clients since he started as a public defender in Missouri. "And I think they've gotten their money's worth," he said.

Robbins said he is thankful that he is taking a position that lets him continue to live in Jackson with his wife of 25 years. He and his wife have two sons, one a recent college graduate living in the area and the other a college student in Tennessee.

"This is home to us," he said, "and we wanted to get somewhere and settle, and we've done that."