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Source: The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.迷你倉沙田Aug. 15--WILKES-BARRE -- Anyone who talks to attorney William Ruzzo can see he loves his job as a part-time public defender.He continually compliments his fellow attorneys, talks of more than 20 years worth of defending clients and is quick to thank former chief public defender Basil Russin for giving him a chance.Ruzzo, 71, of Wilkes-Barre, is retiring from the county's Public Defender's Office next Thursday -- a decision not made easily."I started here in 1988 and I never left," Ruzzo said Wednesday. "They couldn't get rid of me."He will continue working with his private office, where he is currently handling a number of federal cases.Ruzzo said his retirement is due, in part, because his private office is busy and all of the homicide cases in the county are in "very capable hands."Ruzzo has mostly handled the office's homicide or capital murder cases. He said Wednesday that if the county were to ask him to work on a capital murder case in the future, he wouldn't turn it down.Ruzzo became a lawyer a little later in life than most, first attending Wilkes University, where he majored in political science before becoming a teacher for a few years.It wasn't until 1984 that a woman he was dating -- an attorney -- encouraged him to attend law school.He worked on the case of George Banks, who shot and killed 13 people on Sept. 25, 1982 in Wilkes-Barre and Jenkins Township and continued to handle appeals at the state and federal level throughout the years.He also represented John Michaels during his January 2005 trial. Michaels was charged with setting a blaze that killed a woman. Prosecutors said Michaels set the fire to迷你倉價錢get revenge on his former landlord who evicted him from the building.Michaels was acquitted of all charges and released from the county prison."(Fellow public defender John) Donovan did a magnificent job," Ruzzo said of the attorney who he worked with on the case and who is still a public defender.Ruzzo can remember nearly every case he has tried, the good and the bad, and is quick to refer to fellow public defenders who have helped him along the way.Donovan, Ferris Webby, Jonathan Blum, Joe Yeager, Tom Cometa and Al Flora, to name a few -- all the go-to guys for specialties and questions. Or just some good-old Public Defender's Office camaraderie.Ruzzo said that's what he'll miss the most, but knows each of his fellow attorneys is available if he needs them.He'll miss the endless trials, too, and the competitiveness, but not some cases that one can see still linger in the back of Ruzzo's mind.The case of Lamont Cherry, convicted of third-degree murder in the May 2009 death of a 1-year-old girl and later sentenced to 20 to 40 years in prison, is one of them."He's one of the guys who is serving prison time who I think is innocent," Ruzzo said. "That was my bitterest loss."Ruzzo said now he'll enjoy some down time, his longtime girlfriend, Janice Dimirco, and their Golden Retriever.Ruzzo, who has two sons, one an attorney, the other a sales rep, and one daughter, a tipstaff for a judge in Dallas, Texas, will likely still attend many seminars on aspects of the law -- what he calls his hobby.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) Visit The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.) at .timesleader.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉庫