Kane’s new public defender coming ‘home’

Kane County’s new public defender will not have a difficult time finding her way around the courthouse.

Kelli Childress, who was chosen by the judges of the 16th Judicial Circuit to fill the vacancy, worked as an assistant state’s attorney in Kane County in the late 1990s before going into private practice.

She’s served as the deputy chief public defender in Lake County since 2007, and before that as the first assistant public defender in DeKalb County from 2003 to 2007.

“Kane County is what I consider home,” said Childress, 39, noting that most of her family lives in the area. “It’s always been my intention to return.”

Childress hopes to start around July 1 and will fill the vacancy created when public defender David Kliment was named a judge. Tom McCulloch has served as the interim public defender the past several months.

Childress said it’s an honor working with other public defenders “who believe in something and do it without looking for (financial) reward.”

And despite the uphill battles in the office, she said it’s satisfying to help those who are innocent and wrongly accused win at trial and walk away free.

“The reward of that is something you can’t describe,” she said.

Childress edged out 14 other candidates for the position.

She earned her undergraduate and law degrees from Loyola University. Childress currently serves on the Illinois Public Defenders Association board of directors and is the chair of the Criminal Justice Section Council of the Illinois State Bar Association.