The Alameda County Board of Supervisors this honored Public Defender Brendon Woods this week as the recipient of the Santa Clara County Black Lawyers Association’s Gideon Award.

President of the board, Keith Carson Supervisors, presented a commendation to Public Defender Brendon Woods at Tuesday’s Board of Supervisors meeting. The award was presented in recognition of Woods’ contributions to indigent defense management and leadership.

Woods has served as attorney in the Alameda County Public Defender’s Office in 1996 since 1996.

He was appointed on Dec. 17, 2012 as Public Defender by the Alameda County Board of Supervisors, and became the county’s first African American Public Defender for Alameda County.

Woods has represented juvenile and adult clients in Alameda County charged with crimes from misdemeanors to capital murder. He has defended clients in numerous jury trials, including three death penalty cases, where he was able to keep the defendants from being sentenced to death.

An active member of the community, Woods has served on the Judicial Evaluation Committee for the Alameda County Bar Association, the Alameda County Executive Development Program, the Judicial Council of California’s Criminal Law Advisory Committee, the California Public Defender’s Association and the Charles Houston Bar Association.

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