Louis O'Melville "Lou" Frost, Jr. (September 19, 1931 – January 16, 2008) was an American lawyer who served for 36 years as the elected

public defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

for Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit, which consists of

Duval Duval or DuVal is a surname, literally translating from French to English as "of the valley". It derives from the Norman "Devall", which has both English and French ties. Variant spellings include: Davolls, Deavall, DeVile, Devill, Deville, Div ...

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Austria * Nassau (Groß Sankt Florian), incorporated village of Groß Sankt Florian Bahamas *Nassau, The Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upp ...

, and

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

counties. He was a local legal institution who nurtured the careers of hundreds of young lawyers,Kerr, Jessie-Lynn
"Lou Frost 1931–2008: Longtime former public defender dies"
''Florida Times-Union'', January 16, 2008 with two dozen appointed to state and federal judgeships, and one seated on the

Florida Supreme Court The Supreme Court of Florida is the state supreme court, highest court in the U.S. state of Florida. It consists of seven justices—one of whom serves as Chief Justice. Six members are chosen from six districts around the state to foster geog ...

."Lou Frost"
''Florida Bar News'', July 15, 2005

Early years

Frost was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

, but his family moved to

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

when he was seven years old. He was a 1949 graduate of Jacksonville's Landon High School, where he was named

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

. He received a degree in business from the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

in 1953, the same year he married his wife, Shirley. He attended law school at the

University of Miami The University of Miami (UM, UMiami, Miami, U of M, and The U) is a private university, private research university in Coral Gables, Florida, United States. , the university enrolled 19,852 students in two colleges and ten schools across over ...

before serving two years as an officer in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

First Infantry during the

Korean War The Korean War (25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was an armed conflict on the Korean Peninsula fought between North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea; DPRK) and South Korea (Republic of Korea; ROK) and their allies. North Korea was s ...

. After leaving the Army, he completed his law degree at the

University of Florida College of Law The University of Florida Levin College of Law (UF Law) is the law school of the University of Florida located in Gainesville, Florida. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest operating public law school in Florida and second oldest overall in the stat ...

. He was admitted to the Florida Bar on November 6, 1958. and worked briefly in a Jacksonville private practice.

Career

In 1959, then- county solicitor Lacy Mahon Jr. hired Frost as a part-time prosecutor. After Edward M. Booth was elected County Solicitor, he retained Frost on the staff, as well as

Ed Austin T. Edward "Ed" Austin Jr. (July 15, 1926 – April 23, 2011) was an American politician and attorney. He served as mayor of Jacksonville, Florida from 1991 to 1995. He also served as the first Public Defender for Florida's Fourth Judicial Circ ...

. Frost first became acquainted with Austin in 1951 at the University of Florida when the former was a student and the latter was a teacher. A few years later, Frost was a

First Lieutenant First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces; in some forces, it is an appointment. The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations, but in most forces it is sub-divided into a se ...

Fort Sill, Oklahoma Fort Sill is a United States Army post north of Lawton, Oklahoma, about 85 miles (137 km) southwest of Oklahoma City. It covers almost . The fort was first built during the Indian Wars. It is designated as a National Historic Landmark an ...

when Austin attended

Officer Candidate School An officer candidate school (OCS) is a military school which trains civilians and Enlisted rank, enlisted personnel in order for them to gain a Commission (document), commission as Commissioned officer, officers in the armed forces of a country. H ...

. They also attended law school together. In the 1963 ''

Gideon v. Wainwright ''Gideon v. Wainwright'', 372 U.S. 335 (1963), was a List of landmark court decisions in the United States, landmark Supreme Court of the United States, U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment to the United S ...

'' decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that defendants charged with felonies (besides murder) were also entitled to legal representation by the State. In response, the Florida Legislature established the office of

Public Defender A public defender is a lawyer appointed to represent people who otherwise cannot reasonably afford to hire a lawyer to defend themselves in a trial. Several countries provide people with public defenders, including the UK, Belgium, Hungary and Si ...

, and Governor

Farris Bryant Cecil Farris Bryant (July 26, 1914 – March 1, 2002) was an American politician serving as the 34th governor of Florida. He also served on the United States National Security Council as director of the Office of Emergency Planning during t ...

appointed Ed Austin as Jacksonville's first public defender. Austin asked Frost if he would be interested in changing sides. Frost said "yes" and he became Austin's chief assistant. Frost commented,

I never got a big bang out of putting people in jail. I always felt there was some good in every person – even though you had to find it in some of them. I also had prosecuted many people who didn’t have representation and I knew their sentences would have been more lenient if they could have had an attorney.Marbut, Max
"Lou Frost: There when it began"
''Jax Daily Record'', August 27, 2007

During the 1960s, the

state attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, county prosecutor, state attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or solicitor is the chief prosecutor or chief law enforcement officer represen ...

handled capital cases and

grand jury A grand jury is a jury empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a person to testify. A grand ju ...

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an ind ...

s, while the county solicitor was responsible for all other cases. When Austin resigned to run for State Attorney in 1968, Frost was invited to change sides again, but he declined and was appointed to fill Austin's remaining term by Governor

Claude Kirk Claude Roy Kirk Jr. (January 7, 1926 – September 28, 2011) was an American businessman, politician, and Marine Corps veteran who served as the List of governors of Florida, 36th governor of Florida from 1967 to 1971. A member of the Republican ...

. Frost was elected public defender later that year and retained the post until he retired in January 2005, running unopposed 9 times. Frost explained how that happened: "I was a Democrat in the mostly Republican Fourth Judicial Circuit. When Don Brewer was the head of the Republican Party he told me I was doing a fine job and I would run unopposed." Frost was also asked to help establish other public defender offices across the country.

Personal

Frost and his wife Shirley were married for 47 years and raised two children: Louis O. Frost IV and Deborah. He was a long-time member of

Rotary International Rotary International is one of the largest service organizations in the world. The self-declared mission of Rotary, as stated on its website, is to "provide service to others, promote integrity, and advance world understanding, goodwill, and p ...

, and served as president of the Arlington Rotary Club. He was also active with Jacksonville's

Morocco Temple The Morocco Temple (also known as the Morocco Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine) is a historic Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, Shriners International building in Jacksonville, Florida, Jackson ...

, elected ''Illustrious Potentate'' in 1987,Pinkham, Paul
"36 years as a public defender"
''Florida Times-Union'', January 17, 2008 and a

Master Mason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

, 33rd degree

Scottish Rite The Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry is a List of Masonic rites, rite within the broader context of Freemasonry. It is the most widely practiced List of Masonic rites, Rite in the world. In some parts of the world, and in the ...

, and a

Jester A jester, also known as joker, court jester, or fool, was a member of the household of a nobleman or a monarch kept to entertain guests at the royal court. Jesters were also travelling performers who entertained common folk at fairs and town ma ...

. Upon his retirement, Frost was interviewed by the ''

Florida Times-Union ''The Florida Times-Union'' is a daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, United States. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the ''Florida Union'' in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when t ...

'': "It has been rewarding to see people whose careers I've helped and also to see people that we've defended turn the corner and turn their lives around. Those are the rewards that you never see, and those are the rewards that I've cherished."

Retirement

Frost was diagnosed with stomach cancer and had surgery in March 2004 to remove an abdominal tumor, followed by 25 doses of

chemotherapy Chemotherapy (often abbreviated chemo, sometimes CTX and CTx) is the type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (list of chemotherapeutic agents, chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) in a standard chemotherapy re ...

. Before treatment, Frost had a slim body, and during chemo, his weight dropped to 105 pounds. He realized that he would not be able to return to work, and retirement was his only option. At his retirement party, delayed because of the cancer treatment, he commented,

Yes, it was difficult. The chemo really knocked me down, but I guess they almost have to kill you before you can start in your recovery. Everything is great, wonderful right now. I’m in remission and there have been no reoccurrences since my surgery. I’m blessed. I’m surrounded by the people I love.

More than 300 friends and colleagues attended a retirement celebration in his honor on February 24, 2005. They included judges, lawyers and politicians in the northeast Florida legal community, many of whom offered speeches in tribute.Legal community honors Lou Frost
''Jax Daily Record'', February 28, 2005 State Attorney Harry Shorstein said, "Lou was your quintessential moral, ethical, caring person. The law can at times be very contentious, but Lou was always a gentleman." Chief Circuit Judge

Donald Moran Donald Richard Moran, Jr. (born August 2, 1945) is a former lawyer and judge in the Fourth Judicial Circuit in Florida for 41 years, including 21 years as chief judge, the longest tenure in Florida history. He was an early advocate of diversion ...

commented, "He was so well-respected throughout the state of Florida, not only for his civic work but as a lawyer. He was a humble person, a gentleman's gentleman." The cancer returned however, and four years after he was diagnosed, Frost died of complications after a long hospitalization.

Honors

In 1975, Frost was honored by the

National Legal Aid & Defender Association The National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA) is the oldest and largest national, nonprofit membership organization devoted to advocating equal justice for all Americans and was established in 1911. History The Fourteenth Amendment to ...

with their distinguished ''Reginald Heber Smith Award''. He received the Mary L. Singleton Justice, Peace and Social Harmony Award in 2001, and the D.W. Perkins Bar Association recognized him in 2004 for his "trail-blazing" dedication to hiring African-American lawyers. In 2006, the Florida Public Defenders Association named him recipient of the ''L. Clayton Nance Award''. Frost commented, "It is a distinct honor to be recognized in the same group with former governors

and

Leroy Collins Thomas LeRoy Collins (March 10, 1909 – March 12, 1991) was an American politician who served as the 33rd governor of Florida from 1955 to 1961. Collins began his governorship after winning a special election in 1954, and was elected to a fo ...

and

State Supreme Court In the United States, a state supreme court (known by other names in some states) is the highest court in the state judiciary of a U.S. state. On matters of state law, the judgment of a state supreme court is considered final and binding in ...

Justices (B. K.) Roberts and

Adkins Adkins is a surname of English origin derived from a diminutive form for Adam. Notable people with the surname include: * Adele Adkins (born 1988), British singer * Amanda Adkins (born 1974/1975), American politician and businesswoman * Amanda Ad ...

and

Sandy D'Alemberte Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte (June 1, 1933 – May 20, 2019) was an American lawyer, professor, politician, educational administrator, president of the American Bar Association, and president of Florida State University (FSU), from 1994 to 2003. ...

. It is overwhelming for me. To be listed among those people as worthy of this award is the pinnacle of my career." That same year, the Criminal Law Section of

The Florida Bar The Florida Bar is the integrated, or unified bar organization for the state of Florida. It is the third largest such bar in the United States.

bestowed the Selig Goldin Award in recognition of his distinguished career.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frost, Lou 1931 births 2008 deaths Lawyers from New York City Public defenders Florida Democrats United States Army personnel of the Korean War United States Army officers Lawyers from Jacksonville, Florida Warrington College of Business alumni Deaths from cancer in Florida 20th-century American lawyers