Albany County Executive Daniel P. McCoy today recognized Albany County Public Defender Judge Stephen Herrick for being honored with the 2022 Denison Ray Criminal Defender Award by the New York State Bar Association Committee on Mandated Representation. Each year, the award is presented to those who demonstrate the highest commitment to indigent legal defense. Only one such award is given to a director of a defender program annually, named after the renowned legal activist, Denison Ray, who was a true leader in New York and across the country.

“Appointing Judge Herrick to the position of Albany County’s Public Defender in 2016 was the right choice to make and he is the right person for this award, because he understands that everyone deserves their day in court, no matter how much money they have in their wallet. He has shown his commitment to that core principle for nearly five decades, having started his career in the office he now leads,” said County Executive McCoy.

“Additionally, Judge Herrick was a key ally in our fight to pass landmark state legislation in 2017, which we drafted in my office, and eventually secured $250 million over five years for New York’s counties for the sole purpose of bolstering public defenders’ offices across the state, giving them the resources needed for truly adequate staffing and defense,” he continued. 

Judge Herrick is a founder of and presided over the Albany County Drug Treatment Court, which helped divert individuals with substance abuse challenges away from incarceration and into treatment and recovery programs. Now at the helm of the Public Defender’s Office where his career began, he has remained true to his principles of defending those less fortunate and without the means to do so. By March of 2023, Albany County alone will have received more than $26.2 million to support Judge Herrick’s efforts thanks to the indigent legal services reforms County Executive McCoy fought for in the state budget.

“I am thrilled and honored to be the recipient of the 2022 Denison Ray Criminal Defender Award. I join a select group of defenders, many of whom I've known, admired and respected for years. I am humbled to be listed among them today,” said Albany County Public Defender Stephen Herrick.

“County Executive McCoy made the path to this achievement possible. He has strongly supported the reorganization and modernization of not just the Office of the Public Defender, but the Alternative Public Defender and Assigned Counsel Plan as well. Albany County now provides some of the strongest and best criminal defense representation in Upstate New York,” he continued.

The Honorable Judge Herrick has long been committed to the pursuit of defending indigent clients in the court of law since he began his legal career as an attorney in the Albany County Public Defender’s Office in 1973. Herrick was appointed and then elected Albany City Court Judge in 1995, and was subsequently elected to the position of Albany Court Judge in 2002.