Westmoreland County's longest-serving public defender keeps giving clients his all

Greg Cecchetti knew from an early age he wanted to be a defense attorney.

More than three decades later, he’s still at work defending low-income residents charged with crimes.

“I always wanted to be a lawyer, since the sixth grade,” Cecchetti said. “In high school, I knew I wanted to become a public defender.”

Cecchetti, 62, of Derry Township last month celebrated his 35th anniversary in the Westmoreland County’s Public Defender’s Office, where he is the longest-tenured full-time lawyer and serves as the first assistant among a staff of 14 attorneys.

Cecchetti grew up in Arnold. After graduating from Northern Ohio Law School, he joined the public defender’s office in 1984.

Like many of his public defender colleagues, Cecchetti spends his days running from courtroom to courtroom handling as many as 300 cases a year ranging from drunken-driving offenses to murders. He’s one of three lawyers in the office certified to defend clients facing the death penalty.

“I want to help people in need,” Cecchetti said. “I didn’t ever feel comfortable seeing people in need of a defense attorney and couldn’t get adequate representation.”

He first worked under Dante Bertani as the office’s first chief public defender. Bertani’s philosophy of challenging every aspect of every case rubbed off on Cecchetti, who said he still represents clients with the same zeal he learned from his mentor.

“I’m in court almost every day, and I feel pressure to make sure my client’s rights are not violated,” Cecchetti said. “Sometimes it is tough to defend a person, and you have to remember you are there for a purpose and are looking out for them and don’t give up on them. It’s overwhelming, but he or she is entitled to the most I can provide.”

Blunt with clients and tough with prosecutors, Cecchetti said he’s not in court to make friends but to defend his clients. He said the end results matter more than his courtroom demeanor.

Like most criminal defense attorneys, courtroom victories are not the norm. Still, there have been wins — some of which stand out more than others.

Cecchetti recalled one case, nearly 30 years ago, in which he successfully defended a client accused of murder. Prosecutors had a strong case with evidence that proved the victim was slashed across his back, a wound that an autopsy showed was caused by a left-to-right sweep of a knife.

“We were able to establish our client was left handed, and it appeared it would have been impossible for him to cause that wound,” Cecchetti said. “We were able to establish that it was impossible for our client to inflict that wound.”

Cecchetti said he considers himself a lifer in the public defender’s office. He interviewed for the office’s top job after county commissioners fired Bertani in 2012. Bertani, a former chairman of the county Democratic committee, claimed he was fired for political reasons and won a $250,000 settlement from the county a few years later.

Although Cecchetti didn’t get the job, he was kept on as the office’s top assistant by Republican Wayne McGrew, who was hired to replace Bertani.

“We had cases against each other when I worked in the district attorney’s office, and I saw Greg was very committed to the work done by the public defender,” McGrew said. “Even after all these years, he has no problem putting in the work to get his cases ready and defend his clients.”

And he’s still working to defend his clients.

When I feel I can no longer defend someone, that is when I shouldn’t be defense attorney any more,” Cecchetti said.