Rhode Island / Public Defender / Assistant Public Defender III
Job-title file
Provide administrative support — record-keeping, scheduling, correspondence, and customer service.
14 employees hold this title in Public Defender. Median total compensation for the role is $79,523, above the department median of $23,153.
What the records show
How total compensation varies among the 14 people in this role. Even for one job title, pay differs with seniority, step, overtime, and tenure. Each bar is a pay range; the far-right bar collects the highest earners.
Compared with the local labor market
Across all employers in Rhode Island, the median wage for Lawyers — about 1,840 people — is $138,960. Public Defender pays a median base salary of $37,440 for this role, 73% below that figure — below the 10th percentile of local pay for the occupation.
The bar is the range of annual wages for Lawyers across every employer in Rhode Island, from the 10th to the 90th percentile, with the middle 50% highlighted. The marker shows Public Defender’s median base salary for this role. Both figures are base pay only.
And across the country
Nationwide, the median wage for Lawyers — about 754,500 people — is $159,670. Public Defender’s median base salary is 77% below that national figure, below the 10th percentile of pay for the occupation nationally.
Local and national wages differ for reasons beyond how well a job pays — cost of living, the mix of employers, and local demand for the occupation all move the Rhode Island range relative to the national one.
Computed over the 31 of 35 people in this role paid at least $25,000 in base salary. The rest are part-year or part-time records, whose actual pay isn’t comparable to a full-time annual wage.
Median total compensation for this role at Public Defender is $37,440, which includes overtime and employer-paid benefits. The benchmark above excludes both, so total compensation is deliberately not compared against it.
Benchmark: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025). BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS) covers all employers in the area — private, non-profit, and government alike — so this is a comparison against the whole local labor market for the occupation, not against private-sector pay. OEWS wages are straight-time pay and exclude overtime, shift differentials, and employer-paid benefits, so the government figure shown here is base pay on the same basis. Total compensation is not comparable to it. Job titles are matched to the closest standard occupation, so the comparison is between similar work rather than an identical job classification.
Compare jurisdictions
This role is reported in 6 jurisdictions. In Rhode Island, the median of $37,440 ranks #5 of 6. See Assistant Public Defender across all of Rhode Island →
Median total compensation for comparable Assistant Public Defender roles in other jurisdictions. Titles are matched by normalized name across sources, not identical job classification, and pay is not cost-of-living adjusted. Each bar links to that jurisdiction’s page for the role.
Same department
Record list
Page 1
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Rebecca Tougas works as a Assistant Public Defender III for Public Defender. Rebecca earned $101,755 in 2024.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Glen Whitehead is a Assistant Public Defender III at Public Defender. 2024 total compensation came to $96,909.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Sean Powers is a Assistant Public Defender III at Public Defender. 2024 total compensation came to $96,909.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Chelsea Haggerty is a Assistant Public Defender III at Public Defender. 2024 total compensation came to $96,909.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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At Public Defender, Michael Ewart serves as a Assistant Public Defender III. Their 2024 pay totaled $93,679.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Joshua Soares holds the role of Assistant Public Defender III at Public Defender. In 2024, their total compensation was $86,151.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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At Public Defender, Nicholas Smalley serves as a Assistant Public Defender III. Their 2024 pay totaled $81,072.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Adam Northup holds the role of Assistant Public Defender III at Public Defender. In 2025, their total compensation was $77,973.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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At Public Defender, Piper Pehrson serves as a Assistant Public Defender III. Their 2024 pay totaled $69,381.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Curtis Pouliot Alvarez works as a Assistant Public Defender III for Public Defender. Curtis earned $41,291 in 2025.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Dana Harrell is a Assistant Public Defender III at Public Defender. 2026 total compensation came to $29,409.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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Diana Perez works as a Assistant Public Defender III for Public Defender. Diana earned $20,993 in 2026.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
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At Public Defender, Justin Lisi serves as a Assistant Public Defender III. Their 2025 pay totaled $20,268.
Assistant Public Defender III/Public Defender
Source-specific fields
At Public Defender, Laura Mccready serves as a Assistant Public Defender III. Their 2024 pay totaled $7,053.