Education & Strategic Planning Division Staff

Chrissy Madjar is the Staff Attorney Supervisor in the Education Branch at the Kentucky DPA. She has spent her entire legal career in indigent defense. A graduate of Gideon’s Promise (Class of 2012), Chrissy began as a trial attorney in Elizabethtown before becoming a capital post-conviction attorney at the Tennessee Office of the Post-Conviction Defender in Nashville, TN, representing indigent clients on Tennessee’s Death Row. Upon her return to Kentucky in 2017, she was a trial attorney in the Frankfort Trial Office, and from 2019-2022 she was the Kentucky Innocence Project Education Staff Attorney with a primary focus on forensic science and its implications in the criminal legal system. In 2023, Chrissy was a Visiting Professor at the University of Kentucky College of Law, teaching three criminal law classes and coaching the UK Mock Trial Team, before returning to DPA in her current position in the Education Branch. Chrissy has been part of DPA training faculty for years and continues to develop curriculum and resource materials on a variety of legal topics, including experts, forensics, suppression, trial advocacy, and drafting DPA’s DUI Manual. An Ohio native, Chrissy is a 2012 graduate of Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio and is licensed in Kentucky and Tennessee.

Glenn McClister is an Education Staff Attorney. He received his J.D. from the University of Kentucky in 1997, and for eight years worked as an Assistant Public Advocate in Somerset, Kentucky. Born in Chicago, Glenn attended a protestant seminary for two years after receiving his A.A. degree and then, like his father and brother, became a preacher. Five years later, he quit to pursue graduate work in philosophy. After completing the requirements for an M.A., he then spent two years as a professional actor, getting the chance to play the lead in “Two Gentlemen of Verona” on the stage of the Globe Theater in London, during a summer program there. After having secured a talent agent on 88th street in New York and spending a great deal of time unemployed, Glenn joined the 101st Airborne Division when Desert Storm began and served for two-and-a-half years. After digging ditches in a Kentucky state park for a year, Glenn went to law school, where he won the College of Law Faculty Cup at graduation. In addition to his duties as an advocate, Glenn also spends a great deal of time training public defenders throughout the nation. He has been on the faculty of Missouri’s public defender training and has trained public defenders in Pennsylvania.

Tyler Suttle is a Staff Attorney with the DPA Education Branch. He assists with many education events throughout the year and is a leader in the DPA Mentorship Program. Hailing from deep in the hills of Appalachia, Tyler began working with DPA in the Bell County Trial Office in 2011. Following an interlude as senior associate at a civil firm defending suits against government entities, Tyler returned to DPA in 2021 with the London Trial Office. In his years with DPA he has represented clients with charges ranging from status offenses to capital offenses. Tyler is a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University and The University of Dayton School of Law. Although currently based in Frankfort, he still calls the mountains of Eastern Kentucky home.

Patti Heying is DPA’s statewide Recruiter. Patti received a master’s degree in Theatre from the University of Kentucky in 1987, and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Louisville in 2007. She has worked as an acting and vocal coach in Minnesota and Kentucky for the past 20+ years, including serving as adjunct faculty in the theatre departments at the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville. Patti was the Training Coordinator for the Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy for 5 years and has been the agency’s recruiter since 2007. She designs and provides coaching sessions and workshops on presentation skills for criminal defense attorneys within Kentucky and has been a guest coach in Missouri and New Orleans for NLADA’s Appellate Defender Training. Patti continues to direct, perform and teach with local theatres in the Bluegrass area.

Lisa Blevins is the branch’s Program Coordinator. She is a native of Lexington, KY where she received her B.A. in theatre from the University of Kentucky. Lisa worked as a stage manager and other capacities in regional theatre in Virginia, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and North Carolina, before returning home and working as Production Stage Manager / Company Manager for the Lexington Children’s Theatre. She joined the Department of Public Advocacy in 2000 as the General Counsel Secretary, and has been Program Coordinator for Education since 2004, ensuring the logical coordination for DPA training of all sizes.​ Lisa is the 2023 Recipient of the Cindy Lovell Downs Award.

Alaina Faust joined DPA in 2019 as an AmeriCorps VISTA and is now a Training Development Specialist for the Education Branch. Alaina graduated with a B.A. in Spanish from Berea College, where she was published in the Journal of Parasitology and won first place for that research at the Kentucky Academy of Sciences. She began her career in the pharmaceutical field and later graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.S. in biology. She pivoted careers and joined DPA after finding a passion for criminology and criminal justice. She currently resides in Louisville with her two cats, Albus and Asriel.

GraceAnne Miles graduated from Centre College in 2012 with a BA in Philosophy and Fine Arts; she then completed her MFA at UNCSA in 2021. Her terminal degree is in Scenic Art and Education with a focus on curriculum development and the “Art of Teaching”.  Born in Letcher Co. and having lived in 6 other KY counties since, she considers herself a deeply rooted Kentuckian and is grateful for the opportunity to support all the citizens of her home state. After her experiences working on the Annual Conferences in 2017, 2018, and 2021, she joined the DPA Education Branch full time in February of 2024. She currently lives in Lexington with her fiancé, their gaggle of rescue pets, and is frequently found in the garden or her home studio.