The Virginia Public Defender Commission was created pursuant to Chapter 2.1, Acts of Assembly, effective April 10, 1972, as enacted by the 1972 Session of the General Assembly of Virginia. The Virginia Code Commission assigned Code Sections 19.1-32.2 to 19.1-32.5.

Pursuant to Section 19.1-32.2, the five members of the Commission were appointed in May, 1972 by the Speaker of the House of Delegates, in consultation with the Chairmen of the Courts of Justice Committees of the House of Delegates and the Senate of Virginia. All of the initial members, except Waldo G. Miles, Esquire, deceased, currently remain on the Commission. The members must include two active Judges of Courts of Record in Virginia; two active members of the Virginia State Bar who have practiced law in the Commonwealth for ten or more years immediately preceding their appointment, and one public member who is neither an active nor retired Judge and has never been a licensed lawyer.

Members of the Commission are: Henry D. Garnett, Judge, Seventh Judicial Circuit; William W. Sweeney, Judge, Twenty-Fourth Judicial Circuit; C. Wynne Tolbert, Attorney-at-Law, Arlington, Virginia; D. Nelson Sutton, Jr., Attorney-at-Law, West Point, Virginia (who replaced Waldo G. Miles, Attorney-at-Law, of Bristol, Virginia, deceased); and Dr. Rondle E. Edwards, Assistant Superintendent, Richmond Public Schools, Richmond, Virginia. Judge Garnett served as Chairman from 1972 through the Commission meeting of April 29, 1974, at which time Judge Sweeney was elected, and continues to serve, as Chairman. Mr. Tolbert currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the Commission, having succeeded Judge Sweeney in that capacity on April 29, 1974.

The Commission takes pleasure in submitting this Report on its activities, including the operations, experience and evaluations of its pilot programs, and its recommendations, in accordance with Section 19.1-32.2 of the Code of Virginia of 1950, as amended.

The full text of ,Code Sections 19.1-32.2 through 19.1-32.5, which relate to this Commission, its powers and duties, can be found in the Appendix, Page 22.