As Assistant Chief Defender, John Elworth helps oversee the administration of the Private Defender Program. He works to ensure that attorneys provide high-quality legal representation by improving data collection and analysis to drive management decisions. He has collaborated with national experts on indigent defense data to identify metrics for evaluating indigent defense models and has made changes to PDP’s case management system to track this critical data.

John has been an attorney since 2003 and has focused primarily on indigent criminal defense cases. He joined the Private Defender Program as a panel attorney in 2008 handling serious felony cases, including several homicide cases that resulted in acquittals or dismissals. In addition to John’s criminal defense work, he also filed §1473.7 petitions in partnership with Immigrant Legal Defense (ILD). In recognition of his dedication to zealous advocacy, he was awarded the PDP’s Woodman Award by his colleagues in 2019. John joined the PDP as Assistant Chief Defender in 2023.