BERRIEN COUNTY, MI (WKZO AM/FM) — A top lawyer in Southwest Michigan passed away from a heart attack this week, leaving those who knew and worked with him saddened by the loss.
Berrien County’s Chief Public Defender Christopher Renna left work early on Monday after telling co-workers he was feeling ill. The 40-year-old was later taken to Lakeland Medical Center in St. Joseph where he died from complications caused by a heart attack.
Renna served as assistant chief prosector before being appointed to the chief role in 2018. He was preparing to take a lead role heading Kalamazoo County’s public defenders office on March 23rd.
Public defender Paul Jancha Jr. was hired by Renna and worked alongside him for the last two years. Following Renna’s announcement that he was taking on a role elsewhere, Jancha was selected as his successor in Berrien County.
“He was a wonderful leader, a wonderful advocate. His commitment to these clients was second to none, and he worked tirelessly for them,” Jancha said.
Jancha was already appointed by the Berrien County Board of Commissioners to take over the chief defender job when his boss passed away.
Now he will take over the mentor’s position early, noting that he has big shoes to fill. “None of his work was lost on us, but at the same time he was patient with us and very helpful. Really just an amazing person, and it’s a huge loss. We’re suffering with it.”
Jancha says that the position of public defender is often an overlooked part of the justice system. The public attorneys handle the cases of thousands of individuals whose cases are being brought to court, ranging from minor offenses to high level crimes like murder or robbery.
Renna was partially inspired to pursue the job by a brief run-in with the law when he was younger. Jancha said he believes that experience gave him the empathy to work with the many low-income and disadvantaged defendants who seek legal representation from the public defenders office.
He was a graduate from SVSU in 2002, and earned degrees from Cooley Law and California Law Schools. Renna also attended the California Innocence Project and Oxford University in England for legal programs.
Josh Hilgart is executive director of Kalamazoo Defenders, where Renna was slated to lead the roster of public defenders. He says the office is shocked and filled with sadness by Renna’s abrupt death this week.
“We felt really fortunate that we would be able to have him onboard, and it’s far too soon for a guy like that to go,” said Hilgart. He praised the deceased attorney’s success representing clients, concern for their wellbeing, and the respect he commanded in the courtroom.
According to Hilgart, an interim chief defender will fill Renna’s position in the office for the near future.
He said that he became close to the chief public defender after reaching out for advice, with Berrien County’s office being one of the few public departments established before the Michigan Indignant Defense Commission was created in 2013, and received $84 million dollars to expand services in 2018.
The Kalamazoo Defenders office is a non-profit that was established in July 2019 to represent clients in Kalamazoo County, featuring around 20 attorneys taking on cases. After Renna expressed interest in the office’s holistic approach and non-profit model, the chief executive reached out to him with a job offer.
“We started to talk about maybe this is a place that you can come next, and then we can collaborate on something groundbreaking. And he was very excited about it,” Hilgart said.
