About me
Suzanne Hopf has been a full-time staff attorney with DPA from 1998 and has been the Supervisor of the Kentucky Innocence Project since 2018. Suzanne earned a Master’s Degree in Sociology from Colorado State University in 1993, where she focused on conflict theory and inequities in the criminal justice system. She graduated from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law in 1996 with a commitment to fight for the rights of marginalized people. For over twenty-five years Suzanne has been proud to be a member of “team public defenders.” Suzanne started her career with the Department of Public Advocacy the month she was sworn into the bar in 1996 as a contract attorney, working on post-conviction cases. In 1998, she joined DPA full time in the Juvenile Post Disposition Branch. Suzanne moved into the Kentucky Innocence Project leadership position in November 1998 with a commitment to revitalizing the KIP program and to increase KIP resources. During the first three years with KIP, she wrote and received funding for five grants - three federal grants and two privately funded grants. The grant efforts generated over 1.7 million dollars in funding, allowing KIP to double their staffing and improve services to directly benefit KIP’s past and future exonerees. Prior to her work with the Kentucky Innocence Project, Suzanne’s focus was on juvenile law. She was responsible for a number of important published juvenile law decisions including D.R. v. Commonwealth, 64 S.W.3d 292 (Ky.App. 2001)(juveniles cannot waive counsel without first speaking with counsel); X.B. v. Commonwealth, 105 S.W.3d 459 (Ky.App. 2003)(juvenile court cannot commit a child to the state without first making findings that commitment was the least restrictive alternative); D.R.T. v. Commonwealth, 111 S.W.3d 392 (Ky.App. 2002)(a person who was charged as a juvenile cannot be placed in an adult facility when they turn 18); Commonwealth v. Jeffries, 95 S.W.3d 60 (Ky. 2002)(youthful offender is entitled to a hearing at 18 years of age, prior to a decision being made on whether to probate the youth or send them to the Department of Corrections). From 2002 until 2018, Suzanne worked on conditions of confinement issues as well as post conviction claims for children. In addition to her work with DPA, Suzanne has also worked as adjunct faculty for the Indiana University, the University of Virginia at Wise, Spalding University in Louisville, Bellarmine University, and the University of Louisville Department of Sociology. When she’s not charging ahead full steam as a public defender, Suzanne enjoys time relaxing with the horses and ponies she has raised on her Indiana homestead, Shadow Hollow Farm.
