Click the links following each persons name to download a high resolution photograph or their bio.
| Name | Photo | Bio |
| Diane Black | Click Here | Click Here |
| Bernice Corley | Click Here | Click Here |
| Ruth Johnson | Click Here | Click Here |
| Jack Kenney | Click Here | Click Here |
| Michael Moore | Click Here | Click Here |
| Joel Wieneke | Click Here | Click Here |
Bernice A. N. Corley is the Executive Director. As Executive director she assist in the managing of the agency and carrying out the policies established by the Board of Directors. Prior to joining the Public Defender Council, Ms. Corley served four years as General Counsel at the Department of Education and also served as legal counsel for both the Indiana Senate and Indiana House of Representatives. Her career includes clerking for Hon. Carr Darden. Ms. Corley served as a Marion County Public Defender Agency as trial counsel as well as appellate counsel.
Diane Black is the Training Director. She is responsible for designing state-wide training programs for defenders in Indiana. Additionally, she trains attorneys in all regions of the state. Prior to joining the Council, Ms. Black was a public defender at the Marion County Public Defender Agency for 20 years. For the last 6 of those years she developed training programs as well as trained 175 plus attorneys and staff. She is a member of NLADA, NAIDE, NAPD, NACDL and the Indiana State Bar Association, sitting as a member on the Criminal Justice section.
Ruth is a staff attorney with the Indiana Public Defender Council (IPDC) where she assists with updating manuals, research, and training. Ruth began her public defender career representing clients in post-conviction relief proceedings at the Office of the State Public Defender. At the Marion County Public Defender Agency Ruth represented clients on direct appeal and for ten years served as Appellate Division Chief. Ruth is secretary of the Indianapolis Bar Association, Appellate Division, Executive Committee, and CLE subcommittee and secretary for the Indiana State Bar Association, Appellate Section. Ruth is president of the Brown County Bar Association and Chair of the Brown County Public Defender Board. Partnering with other branches of State government, Ruth has served on an ad hoc E-filing Rules committee, E-filing Appellate Pilot Project committee, and audio-visual transcript committee. Ruth has presented numerous CLEs around the State specific to E-filing and appellate procedure. In 2018, Ruth partnered with IPDC’s training director, Diane Black, and a licensed mental health professional, to develop a Resiliency CLE for Public Defenders. The Resiliency program provides strategies for public defenders to develop healthy coping mechanisms for stress, burn out, and compassion fatigue. The Resiliency program is presented free of charge to public defenders around the State. In 2015, Ruth was the recipient of the Indianapolis Bar Association Professionalism Award.
Jack Kenney is the Research and Publications Director. Since 1994, he has enjoyed meeting IPDC members and providing assistance in all types of indigent cases and phases of litigation. Jack co-authored the 1995 edition of the Pretrial Manual as well as the Search and Seizure, Confessions and Representing Clients with Mental Illness Handbooks. He also regularly updates IPDC's Casebank, Motions/Jury Instructions, as well as the Sentencing, Criminal Trial, and Evidence manuals. In addition to giving caselaw update presentations throughout Indiana, Jack writes a bi-monthly column for the state bar journal, Res Gestae. Before joining the Council, Jack worked in private practice in Elkhart and Indianapolis, and worked for the Monroe County PD office while in law school. A member of Phi Beta Kappa, he graduated from Indiana University in 1989 and received his J.D. from I.U. School of Law, Bloomington, IN 1991.
Kent Zepick is an attorney with the Indiana Public Defender's Council. He fields research questions from public defenders, helps draft and coordinate the Council's monthly newsletter, The Defender, and writes and edits manuals on criminal law. He also helps public defenders prepare for oral arguments.
Much of his career has focused on appellate practice. From 1994-95, he served as a clerk for James Kirsch, former Chief Judge of the Indiana Court of Appeals. He later worked in the appellate division of the Attorney General's office, but soon returned to the Court to fill the newly created staff attorney's position. In that role, he managed the Court's motions practice, drafted articles on appellate issues, spoke at CLE programs, and answered attorneys' questions regarding appellate procedure. Before joining the Council's staff, Mr. Zepick filed briefs in Indiana's appellate courts for both the Indiana and Marion County Public Defenders. His appellate experience also includes civil work for Bingham McHale LLP, where he filed briefs in the Seventh Circuit and Indiana's appellate courts. He is an adjunct professor of criminal justice, business law, and business ethics at Indiana Wesleyan University.
Mark Carnell is joining the Indiana Public Defender Council as the Legislative Liaison. For the past four years, Mark has served as the investigator for the Indiana Supreme Court Disciplinary Commission. In his prior professional life, Mark was a 27-year member of the Indiana State Police, retiring at the rank of Lieutenant and serving as General Counsel. During his time at ISP, he served ten sessions as the ISP legislative liaison, working on many initiatives, including the criminal code reform. Mark is currently a candidate for a Masters of Public Administration through SPEA at IUPUI. Mark is a veteran of the United States Army and lives outside of Mooresville with his wife, son, and several rescued cats. In his free time, he enjoys working on cars, hiking, listening to music, and traveling.
Coming Soon
Larry is from Highland, IN. He graduated from IU, Bloomington in 1969, and I.U. Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 1973. Larry drafted the legislation that created the Council in 1977 and was the first and employee. He has conducted over 350 seminars and workshops, published six manuals and numerous articles on criminal defense and has lectured extensively on a variety of criminal justice topics. Larry drafted the legislation that created the Indiana Public Defender Commission in 1989 and successfully lobbied for its passage. He works with the Indiana General Assembly on all criminal and juvenile justice bills. He is currently a member of the Public Defender Commission, Board of Trustees of the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute, Commission on Children, Commission on the Interstate Compact on Probation and Parole, and the Commission to Combat Drug Abuse. He was a member of the Criminal Code Evaluation Commission and the Criminal Law and Sentencing Policy Study Committee that revised the Indiana Criminal Code in 2014.
Larry has been an adjunct professor in trial advocacy at I.U. Robert H. McKinney School of Law since 1981. His awards and honors include: Hoosier Freedom Award in 2012 from the Indiana Trial Lawyers Association; Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching from IUPUI in 2010; Part-Time Teaching Award from I.U. President Michael McRobbie in 2010; Marc Emery Award from the Marion County Public Defender Agency Board of Directors in 2007; Distinguished Teaching Award in 1998 and 1999 from I.U. School of Law - Indianapolis; Reginald Heber Smith Award in 1996 from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association; and the Criminal Justice Service Award in 1996 from the ISBA Criminal Justice Section. Larry is a member of the ABA, NLADA, NAPD, NACDL, ISBA, and the IBA.
Liz Houdek is a contract research attorney for the Indiana Public Defender Council and a contract appellate attorney for the Marion County Public Defender Agency. She started her career as a public defender representing trial clients at the Marion County Public Defender Agency in 2002. In 2005, she moved to the agency's Appellate Division and represented clients on appeal full-time until 2010 and then on a contract basis. Liz graduated from Indiana University's Maurer School of Law in 2002.
Coming Soon
Michael Moore began his legal career as a public defender in Marion County following a career as an American Sign Language Interpreter and Special Education Advocate. Since 1999, Mr. Moore served as either a full-time or contract attorney representing individuals in every division within the Marion County Public Defender Agency, including appellate division, major felony drug courts and juvenile court. From 2010 to 2013, Mr. Moore served as the Misdemeanor supervisor where he trained and mentored newly admitted attorneys. In 2013, Mr. Moore joined the Indiana Department of Education where he served as the Director of the Office of Legal Affairs. Mr. Moore brings to the Council a wealth of experience representing clients in all manner of criminal and juvenile actions as well as experience dealing with state budgets and complex contracts.
Amy Karozos is a contract attorney with Indiana Public Defender Council, serving as project director for OJJDP grant to improve juvenile indigent defense services. Before coming to work with IPDC, Amy was a staff attorney with Youth Law T.E.A.M. of Indiana, a not-for-profit agency, working on statewide programs dealing with a variety of juvenile law related issues. She started her career as a deputy public defender at the State Public Defender's Office. Amy has been a contract attorney for the Marion County Public Defender, Appellate Division, for the past several years. She is an adjunct professor at UIndy. In 2014, she became a certified JTIP (Juvenile Training Immersion Program) trainer.
Kim Tandy has nearly 3 decades as a lawyer defending the civil rights of children, youth, and adults in the justice system. She was the founder and Executive Director of the Children's Law Center, Inc. in Covington, Kentucky. As the coordinator for the Central Juvenile Defender Center for nearly twenty years, she served as primary investigator and author of state juvenile defense assessments and has participated in fifteen state assessments for the National Juvenile Defender Center. Kim also spent nearly 15 years as an appellate contract lawyer for the Department of Public Advocacy in Kentucky, and for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Kim has lectured across the country on numerous issues including conditions of confinement, improving juvenile defense, ethical considerations in representing child clients, ending the school to prison pipeline, access to the court, and other civil rights issues. She has received awards from the National Juvenile Defender Center, the American Bar Association, the IMPACT fund, and various state and local honors. Currently, she serves as a consultant for the Indiana Public Defender Council on a federal OJJDP project to improve juvenile defense, and is the Technical Advisor.
Joel C. Wieneke lives in Morgan County with his wife Cara, and two children. He is a former law clerk for the Honorable Judge Patricia A. Riley, and also had the pleasure of clerking one summer during law school for the Honorable Judge John G. Baker. He has served as a contract public defender with the Putnam Circuit Court, and used to accept appointments through the State Public Defender's Office for trial, direct appeal, and post-conviction cases. He served two terms as a Board Member of the Indiana Public Defender Council. Currently, he is serving as the Post-Disposition Unit Coordinator for the Indiana Public Defender Council's, Juvenile Defense Project. When he is not practicing law, you can usually find him hanging with his boys, or wandering a forest.