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IPDC Board of Director Members

In an effort to better represent the diversity in practice and geography of the membership, the IPDC Board of Directors voted in 2020 to modify the make-up of the board.    The following rules apply to the Board make-up:

  • County Representation: No more than 4 members from any one county may serve on the Board at the same time.
  • Term: No member on the Board may serve more than 3 consecutive terms (6 years). After 6 years, a person would have to set out a term (2 years) before running again

The term expiration listed below reflects only the expiration date of the Board member's current term.

Meet the members of the IPDC Board of Directors

Board Member and Board Position
Member Bio
Email Address
Phone
Current Term Expires
County
Jeremy Gooch
Board Chair
Danville, IN

Jeremy P. Gooch is a 2001 graduate of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law.

In August 2002, Jeremy joined the law firm of HINKLE & GIBBS in Danville, Indiana.  Over the course of the next 15 ½ years, Jeremy spent his time working for the citizens of Hendricks County as a private attorney handling criminal law matters.  Additionally, Jeremy provided public defender services to the indigent accused throughout the Hendricks County Courts.  For a number of these years, he served as the main public defender for the Honorable Mark A. Smith in Hendricks Superior Court No. 4.  In this role, Jeremy served as the sole public defender for the Hendricks County Drug Court from its inception to June 2017.

In June 2017, the Hendricks County Commissioners hired Jeremy to become Hendricks County’s first Chief Public Defender with the direction to create a new system of providing indigent defense services to those in need.  With an immense amount of support and assistance, he now heads the Hendricks County Public Defenders Office.  In this capacity, he oversees approximately thirty-five (35) part-time public defenders.  Additionally, Jeremy maintains a partial caseload, continuing his work for the indigent accused.

Jeremy and his wife, Danyel, reside in Brownsburg with their son, Curtis, and an impossibly stubborn basset hound, Henry.

jgooch@co.hendricks.in.us317.718.6130 June 2024 Hendricks
Deana Martin
Board Vice-Chair
Indianapolis, IN

Deana Martin is a graduate of the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law and has spent her entire legal career as a full-time public defender with the Marion County Public Defender Agency (MCPDA). She has worked low-level misdemeanors to capital murder cases and pretty much everything in between.  Currently, she is an attorney in the major case & forensics unit and develops training.  She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Indiana Public Defense Council (IPDC), on the National Association for Public Defense (NAPD) training committee, and an adjunct professor at McKinney.  Deana enjoys working with and mentoring law students, younger lawyers, and lawyers looking to challenge themselves.  To that end, she has coached the National Trial Team at McKinney for over a decade, served as a faculty member at IPDC’s Trial Practice Institute, the National Defender Training Project Trial Advocacy Program at the University of Dayton School of Law, and the Litigation Persuasion Institute at Faubush, Kentucky, and has given numerous presentations and CLE’s on topics from voir dire, evidence and objections, cross-examination, client relationships & communication, OVWI, and others.

deana.martin@indy.gov317.327.4660 June 2024 Marion
Denise Turner
Board Secretary
Bedford, IN

Denise L. Turner graduated from the George Washington University Law School in 2010 and began her law career as a public defender in Marion County.  For six years, she worked tirelessly fighting for the indigent and their rights.  Now in private practice, she works just as tirelessly, but as a part-time public defender in Lawrence County, and also as indigent appellate counsel in Shelby County.  In addition to her service in state court, she is also a member of the federal CJA panel, accepting indigent appointments to those charged with federal crimes.

Because of her diverse practice and background, she is a valuable asset to the Board.  For the past 11 years, she has worked hard for her clients and feel that it is now time to also support her fellow public servants as well.  She is a firm believer in collaborative environments; learning from others; and utilizing the strengths of those around her, as well as her own, to achieve the best outcome for her clients.

denise@dturnerlegal.com317.721.4783 June 2023 Lawrence
Amy Karozos
Member
Indianapolis, IN
Amy Karozos was appointed State Public Defender in January 2020.  Previously she worked with IPDC as project director for an OJJDP grant to improve Indiana’s juvenile indigent defense services. She has also served as a contract public defender in Marion County juvenile court, and the Marion County Public Defender, Appellate Division, and as a staff attorney with Youth Law T.E.A.M. of Indiana, a not-for-profit agency. She started her career as a deputy public defender at the State Public Defender’s Office. akarozos@pdo.in.gov317.232.2475 Permanent  member
see I.C. 33-40-4-3
 
Kay Beehler
Member
Terre Haute, IN

Kay Beehler has been in practice since 1986 when she served as a Marion County Deputy Prosecutor until 1988. After that, she served as a public defender and ultimately the Supervisor of the Major Felony Division in the Marion County Public Defender Agency. In that capacity, as well as during her time as a public defender in several felony courts, Kay did many trials in both misdemeanor and felony cases. For a time, she also served as a deputy public defender in Marion County Juvenile Courts, handling delinquency, CHINS, and termination of parental rights cases. In 2004 she relocated to Maryland, where she was a public defender in the Capital Defense Division until Maryland abolished its death penalty.  In 2016 Kay retired from the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and moved back to Vigo County, Indiana.  She currently takes limited cases and direct appeals.  She serves on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Public Defender Council as well as the Board of the Indiana Abolition Coalition.

beehler924@gmail.com410.591.1859 June 2024 Vigo
Renee Ortega
Member
Crown Point, IN

Renee Ortega has been a public defender for the Lake County Juvenile Court since 2014. She also represents clients in CHINS, Delinquency, and Termination appeals. Additionally, she works to serve the indigent population through Hammond Legal Aid.  Currently, Renee serves as the At-Large Representative for the ISBA Board of Governors and is on the Board of Managers for the Lake County Bar Association.

renee.roklegalgroup@gmail.com 219.661.7703 June 2024 Lake
Joel Schumm
Member
Indianapolis, IN
Joel Schumm is a clinical professor of law at the IU McKinney School of Law where he teaches a variety of courses and directs the Appellate Clinic.  For the past twenty years, he has also served as a contractual appellate public defender in Marion County and occasionally litigated appeals from other counties. Joel is the author of the IPDC Appellate Practice Manual, several IPDC amicus briefs, and task force reports on criminal justice issues for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers JoelSchumm@aol.com317.278.4733 June 2024 Marion

Michael Ausbrook 
Member
Bloomington, IN

Michael Ausbrook teaches a federal habeas litigation clinic at the Maurer School of Law in Bloomington. He is also the faculty advisor for the Incarcerated Individuals Legal Assistance Project (ILAP), a student organization that answers letters from Indiana prisoners who have a variety of questions. He has been contract counsel for the Indiana Public Defender and the Appellate Division of the Marion County Public Defender Agency. He started his career as a law clerk to the Honorable Frank Sullivan, Jr., Associate Justice of the Indiana Supreme Court, and, thereafter, as a deputy attorney general in the Appeals Division of the Office of the Indiana Attorney General.

mausbrook@gmail.com

812.322.3218 June 2025 Statewide

Talisha Griffin 
Member
Indianapolis, IN

Talisha Griffin is a public defender with the Marion County Public Defender Agency. Talisha has been with the Agency since graduating law school in 2017 and has worked as both a trial and appellate attorney. Currently, Talisha is the Appellate Divisions Assistant Chief. She has argued before both the Indiana Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Talisha has a dedication to representing individuals who cannot afford legal representation both at the state and federal level and has successfully worked to free several individuals serving federal life sentences. Talisha is also an Adjunct Professor for IU McKinney School of Law and she is a member of the Appellate Executive Committee for IndyBar.

Talisha.griffin@indy.gov317.327.4477June 2025Marion
Courtney Benson-Kooy
Member
Indianapolis, IN

Courtney Benson-Kooy is a 2012 graduate of IU McKinney School of Law. Courtney has worked as a full-time public defender at the Marion County Public Defender’s office for the entirety of her career and currently works as an assistant supervisor of their major felony division. Her passion lies with helping and representing clients with serious mental health concerns and juveniles charged in adult courts. She will begin as an adjunct professor co-teaching the Criminal Defense Clinic at IU McKinney in the fall of 2023. In addition to the serving as a member of the IPDC Board, she serves a board member of the IndyBar Criminal Justice Section.

courtney.benson-kooy@indy.gov317.327.3994June 2025Marion
Stephanie L. Kress
Member
Greensburg, IN

Stephanie Kress is a 2009 graduate of the IU School of Law in Indianapolis and is currently an attorney at Rolfes, Garvey, Walker, & Robbins in Greensburg, Decatur County, IN.  Since 2011, she has served as a public defender.  Since 2014, her focus has been providing indigent defense and advocacy for parents who are involved in CHINS and TPR matters in Decatur and surrounding counties. She is the 2021 Gideon Award recipient. Stephanie has been a presenter for IPDC on the topic of client communication and she has been fortunate to receive numerous scholarships from IPDC, including a scholarship to attend the ABA’s Center on Children and the Law Conference in Virginia in 2022.  Outside of practicing law, Stephanie is an active member of her community in Greensburg and a devoted (and busy) wife and mom of three amazing children.

stephanie.kress@gmail.com812-663-4441June 2025Decatur

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