MEET THE CHARACTERS

Key Characters
Secondary Characters

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KEY CHARACTERS
 
CHRIS KELLY – Public Defender, white, 36 - Much of Devils’ Angels is seen through the eyes of Chris Kelly, a savvy, skillful Public Defender who will stop at nothing (short of breaking the law) to get his clients off.  His peers - attorneys and judges alike - respect him, but his straight talk and irreverent sense of humor doesn’t always win him friends.  

Whether he’s on the racquetball court or in the courtroom, he always plays to win.  Having served four years in the State’s Attorney’s office as a prosecutor, he knows full well how the other side operates and uses that knowledge - and anything else - to his strategic advantage.  

Kelly is recently separated from corporate attorney Patricia Roberts, and they have two children (Amy, 14 and Brian, 8).  Kelly’s weakness always has been women, and he never misses an opportunity to flirt, because “You never know when you’ll get lucky in the law library.”  His sleeping around is only one factor that caused his separation.  The main reason they’re headed for divorce is because Kelly can’t leave his work in the office.  Though he tries to be a good father, the stakes of his profession for his clients - imprisonment, sometimes even death - always take precedence over his home life.  The cost of this career is high – with the separation, he has the even bigger challenge of balancing his professional life with the demands of being a part-time single Dad. 

Through Kelly, we experience the true soul of a Public Defender - we feel his drive to fight, his compassion for the underdog, and the moral ambiguity of defending the rights of criminals.  Through him, we feel the weight of responsibility that comes with having a personal relationship with clients and their families, the triumph of winning, and the inevitable pain of losing in such a high stakes game. 

BILL SMITH – Public Defender, white, 45 - Bill Smith has been a Public Defender for 9 years, and he’s burnt out.  The endless churn of cases and crime has taken its toll on him, leaving him cynical, apathetic and bitter.  Where once he might have treated his clients with respect, he now barely contains his loathing.  He believes his clients are “guilty as sin” and that they deserve whatever they get.  Smith was once a good lawyer, but he doesn’t have the energy to fight hard anymore – “Just represent them and keep your nuts covered - that’s rule number one.”  He believes the job “is about survival - mostly ours.”  He would love to quit the PD office, but this is the only life he knows.  Anywhere else would be out of the action, and even for a burnout like Smith, that would be far too dull. 

MIKE ROBINSON – Public Defender, black, 25 - Mike Robinson is new to the office, having just graduated at the top of his class from the University of Maryland Law School.  The product of a single mother’s aspirations, Robinson went to an all-white private school on a full scholarship.  He’s idealistic about the impact he will be able to make as a Public Defender, and conflicted about his racial identity, in light of the profound differences between him and the people he’s charged to defend.  He believes crime is a consequence of social inequality - but he’s never been face to face with the kind of criminals he’ll get to know personally in this job. 

Paired with Bill Smith, Robinson learns pretty quickly that the real world hardly resembles the scholarly utopia he learned about in law school.  He seeks out a mentor in Kelly to balance out Smith’s cynicism, but even Kelly’s straight shooting sounds pretty harsh to his ears. 

AMY MILLER – Public Defender, white, 32 - Amy Miller went to Harvard Law School, just like her father before her.  But to her father’s chagrin, she rejected his offer join the corporate law firm where he is a partner in order to “provide a reasonable doubt at a reasonable price.”  Stylish and sexy, she looks like a princess, but she’s tough as nails, and she loves a good fight.  To look at her, you’d think Amy would be intimidated by the murderers and rapists she represents, but as one of the best attorneys in the office, she more than holds her own.  Amy is married to Paul Miller, a slick and handsome medical malpractice lawyer, but she enjoys flirting with Kelly, whose bad boy reputation she’s more than familiar with, and intrigued by. 

HAROLD D’ANGELO – Chief Investigator, black, 35 - Harold D’Angelo, the office's hotshot Chief Investigator, is sharp and a snappy dresser.  D’Angelo works with the PDs to build their cases, and because he’s street savvy, he can get information that others can't.  He can make you a better lawyer, and he and Kelly have a mutual respect.  D’Angelo grew up in the projects, and when he was 17, he went to jail for a year.  After a taste of that life, he turned himself around and he wants the PDs’ clients to do the same.  D’Angelo and Robinson don’t get along – what does a black private school kid know about ghetto life?  It’s easy to be idealistic if you’ve never been on the street.  D’Angelo believes their clients don’t need pity or excuses – they need to straighten up and live right. 

ALAN MAXWELL – Public Defender for the State of Maryland, head of the PD office, white, 60  (unseen in pilot episode) - Alan Maxwell is the best trial attorney Maryland has ever seen, a take-no-shit veteran of the system who knows better than most that “the heart of a good defense is trickery and deceit.”  He still likes a good fight, and he does battle with the bureaucrats in Annapolis to fund the PD’s office, along with anyone else who gets in his way.  Maxwell calls all of the defendants “bums,” and his irreverence coupled with his will to win sets the tone for the office.  He admires Kelly’s hustle, and sees him as a younger version of himself.  When the shit hits the fan, as it often does, Maxwell is the man Kelly confides in.   
 
DOMINIC SANTIAGO – Prosecutor, 35, Latino – Dominic Santiago is sharp, handsome, and on the other team.  Kelly’s parallel in the State’s Attorney’s office, Santiago is as passionate about prosecuting criminals as Kelly is about defending them.  The two worked together in the State’s Attorney’s office for four years before Kelly became a “switch hitter,” so they know each other’s tricks.  They’re great friends outside the courtroom, chasing women and playing sports together, but inside it they’re fierce competitors who will stop at nothing to win.  When the State’s Attorney (Santiago’s boss) runs for re-election on a pro-death penalty platform, Santiago reconsiders his position – he wants to put bad guys in jail, but is he willing to have their deaths on his conscience? 
 

SECONDARY CHARACTERS 

Judges
• Judge Jones - black, female, 50, kind and fair
• Judge Reynolds - black, 50s, a power broker, but a good man
• Judge Specter – white, 55, former civil lawyer, new to the job
• Judge Harvey – white, 50, racist good old boy

Courthouse Staff
• Sheriffs
• Court Reporters
• Clerks
• Deputies
• Guards

Public Defenders’ Office Staff
• Receptionist
• Administrator
• Assistants
• Interns

Other Attorneys
• State’s Attorney Cantor
• Prosecutors
• Corporate lawyers
• Drug lawyers
• Appeals lawyers
• Post-conviction lawyers

Police Officers

Detectives

Defendants

Defendants’ Families

Prison Personnel

Prisoners

Witnesses

Jurors

Law Students

People at the Gym

People at Sascha’s

People at Kelly’s kids’ school

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