HELENA -- Randi Hood, a Helena lawyer with 30 years experience representing poor, accused criminals, was hired this week to be the state's first chief public defender.

Hood, currently Lewis and Clark County's chief public defender, will take the helm in early November of the state's new statewide public defender agency, hailed this summer as "groundbreaking'' by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Hood, who was formally hired Tuesday, will earn $90,000.

"It has always been my deep desire to be a voice for people who don't have much of a voice,'' Hood said, "I try to do the best job I can for them and I get a lot of satisfaction out of that.''

By law, people accused of crimes that cannot afford their own lawyers are guaranteed a free one provided by the government. In Montana, counties currently handle that duty. However, that system came under fire in 2002 when the ACLU sued the state, arguing that funding, oversight and quality of free lawyers varied dramatically throughout the state. The group agreed to put their lawsuit on hold as lawmakers spent two years crafting a new indigent defense agency for Montana.

The result was the new statewide public defender system created by a law passed in 2005.

The new system puts the state, not counties, in charge of public defense, with a headquarters in Butte. Under Hood, several regional deputy public defenders will oversee offices throughout the state. An appointed public defender commission will supervise the system.

The new agency will also provide free lawyers to more than just poor people accused of crimes. Poor people facing involuntary mental commitments, the loss of custody of their children or misdemeanor criminal charges will also get free lawyers through the agency.

For now, Hood is the only employee of the new Office of State Public Defender. She and the office must be ready to open for business by next July.

The commission interviewed three candidates for the job on Oct. 4, Hood and two other lawyers with Helena offices, Ed Sheehy and Bill Hooks.

Hood said she got a call offering her the job Tuesday night.

"I feel humbled by the fact that I was picked to do this job,'' she said.

For the next eight months, Hood expects to travel the state extensively, finding out what courthouses in Montana need for indigent public defense. She will also be involved in hiring the deputy public defenders and crafting the new statewide system.

Hood said she hopes the system "will provide every criminal defendant with a competent, caring person to represent them.''

She graduated from the University of Montana School of Law in 1975. She's been the chief public defender in Lewis and Clark County for 17 years. Prior to that she was a public defender in Missoula County.

Scott Crichton, executive director of the ACLU of Montana, praised the public defender commission for the pick and their progress in getting the new agency up and running.

"They've done a really good job thus far and, with a chief public defender on staff, they can really get down to the brass tacks of creating the details of the system,'' he said.

Jim Taylor, chairman of the commission, said Hood stood out from the other candidates for the job.

"Randi has pretty much devoted herself to indigent criminal defense for 30 years,'' he said.

One controversial part of the new agency is its location: Butte. In the ending days of the 2005 Legislature, lawmakers unexpectedly moved the headquarters of the agency out of the state capital.

Hood said she will not be moving to Butte, but will commute from her home in Helena.

She is married to John Connor, the chief criminal prosecutor in the attorney general's office.