On April 1st, Executive Director Dana Eddy announced the creation of Public Defender Services’ new Gideon’s Spirit Award, which will honor one PDS employee every even month of the year whose work and accomplishments embody the agency’s mission to provide a robust criminal defense to indigent clients throughout West Virginia. For the month of April, the agency’s Deputy Director Donald Stennett was the inaugural recipient of the Gideon’s Spirit Award, in recognition of his longstanding commitment to the clients and employees of Public Defender Services, and his hands-on approach to the agency’s recent move to the Capitol Complex which helped ensure that the move went as quickly and smoothly as possible. Stennett joined PDS as Deputy Director in 2014, and also serves as the agency’s Chief Operating Office and Human Relations liaison to the Department of Personnel.