Finding a good lawyer is hard, but to your point about public defenders having more relevant experience, there’s a simple heuristic: ask the lawyers you interview what direct experience they have. If you have an aggravated assault charge, and your potential private lawyer has done many DUIs but only one of those, move on.

A public defender might not be _bad_, but in many jurisdictions they are egregiously overworked. Their case load is so over burdened they don’t have the time to do a thorough job. I’d much rather take my chances with a paid lawyer.