Stay ConnectedAnyone paying attention can tell you that our criminal legal system is perpetuating cruelty and harm, but the complexity of the legal world overwhelms most people simply trying to get through another day.
Public Defenseless explores the rot in the justice system and what we can do about it. Join host, Hunter Parnell, as he interviews top defense attorneys and criminal justice stakeholders from across the country as they pull apart the convoluted web of our criminal justice system.
Today, Hunter was joined once again by the Executive Director of North Dakota's Commission of Legal Counsel for the Indigent, Travis Fink. Last time, Travis joined the show to detail a bleak outlook for public defense in the state. Not enough attorneys in both the contract and full-time systems, inadequate pay, and crushing workloads left Travis with little choice. He drafted up a letter preparing to tell the courts the public defender would be taking no new cases, but before he could send it out, the legislature threw the system a lifeline.
Guest:
Travis Fink, Executive Director, North Dakota Commission of Legal Counsel for the Indigent
Resources:
Travis Testimony at the Legislature
https://video.ndlegis.gov/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20250130/-1/32604
Contact the North Dakota Public Defender
North Dakota Public Defender News
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Today, Hunter was joined once again by New Mexico's Chief Public Defender, Ben Baur. A few years back, a workload study estimated that New Mexico had 1/3 of the public defenders it needed to meet its workload demands. At that time, the state set out on a five-year plan to address the staffing shortage. Unfortunately, the state has not stuck to the five-year plan. Now, with a shortage of attorneys in rural parts of the state, low pay for contract attorneys, and still too many cases, will the New Mexico public defenders have to stop taking new cases?
Guest:
Ben Baur, Chief Public Defender, New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender
Resources:
Contact the New Mexico Public Defender
https://www.lopdnm.us/offices/
New Mexico Resources
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nAHtHZaAmu6My2tL04Dn_HlLhy-HARuP?usp=sharing
New Mexico Workload Study
https://www.lopdnm.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/LOPD-Attorney-Workload-Study2.pdf
New Mexico Five Year Plan
https://www.lopdnm.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Final-Draft-LOPD-5-Year-Plan.pdf
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@PublicDefenselessPodcast
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Today, Hunter was joined by Dennis Calhoun, Tim Ray Johnson, and Amanda Ulrich to discuss how Washington is helping people who were found not guilty by reason of insanity.
Guest:
Tim Ray Johnson, Criminal Defense Lawyer, Washington
Dennis Calhoun, Student, Washington
Amanda Ulrich, Public Defender Washington
Resources:
WA PD
NGRI
https://opd.wa.gov/forensic-civil-commitment
Email Amdanda and Tim
amanda@stebbinsullrich.com
trj@trjdefense.com
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter was joined by Nat Jacob, Elizabeth Mustin, and Rachel Cortez to discuss new efforts by the Washington to recruit and retain Public Defenders.
Guest
Nat Jacob, Recruitment and Retention Managing Attorney Western Washington, Washington Office of Public Defense
Rachel Cortez, Recruitment and Retention Managing Attorney Eastern Washington, Washington Office of Public Defense
Elizabeth Mustin, Supervising Attorney, Youth Criminal Defense Project, Washington Office of Public Defense
Resources:
WA PD
Fellowship
https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=shared&v=g5QiPP3PEfo
https://opd.wa.gov/recruitment-and-retention
https://opd.wa.gov/recruitment-and-retention/rural-public-defense-fellowship
Emails
Nat.jacob@opd.wa.gov
Rachel.cortez@opd.wa.gov
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter was joined by federal public defender Amanda Bass Castro Alves to discuss the wrongful conviction of Tremane Wood. In 2004, Tremane was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to death in the State of Oklahoma. Just after that, his brother, who admitted to pulling the trigger and who stated Tremane was not responsible for the death, was given a life sentence just after Tremane's trial. So how is it that a person who did not kill anyone ended up on death row? All that and more on today's episode.
Guest
Amanda Bass Castro Alves, Assistant Federal Public Defender, District of Arizona
Resources:
More About Tremane's Case
https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/deeply-rooted-oklahoma-case-spotlight-tremane-wood
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/death-row-felony-murder-oklahoma_n_67094c44e4b0f3da6456d60c
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oklahoma-sets-execution-tremane-wood_n_684afd19e4b0d6fb6cd8eabe
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
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Today, Hunter was joined once again by Erica Nichols Cook, the head of the Iowa State Public Defender Wrongful Conviction Unit. On today's episode, Erica walks us through the case of Jerry Mark. In 1976, he was convicted of the murder of his brother, sister-in-law and their two children, but as you will hear, all the evidence points to the fact that Jerry Mark wasn't even in the state when the murder happened.
Guest
Erica Nichols Cook, Director, Wrongful Convictions Unit, Iowa State Public Defender
Resources:
More About Jerry's Case
Contact Erica
https://www.drake.edu/law/clinics-centers/clinic/wrongfulconvictionsclinic/
https://www.facebook.com/enicholscook/
Send Jerry a Letter
Non legal mail has to go through the mail processing facility: Jerry Mark, #0103896 Anamosa State Penitentiary (ASP) - 1106 PO Box 96777 Las Vegas, NV 89193Contact Hunter Parnell:
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@PDefenselessPod
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Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Megan Walsh and Anthony Benz from the University of Minnesota. As we did on Tuesday, Hunter sat down with these two to highlight the work of a law school clinic. This clinic focuses on combating gun violence through both offensive and defensive litigation.
Guest
Megan Walsh, Director, Gun Violence Prevention Clinic, University of Minnesota
Anthon Benz, Student Attorney, University of Minnesota
Resources:
Contact Megan
https://law.umn.edu/course/7408/spring-2023/gun-violence-prevention-clinic/walsh-megan
https://bsky.app/profile/meganwalshgvp.bsky.social
Jacob Charles Article
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Megan Graham to discuss how her law an technology clinic is helping Public Defenders deal with technology issues in their client's cases.
Guest
Megan Graham, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Director of Technology Law Clinic, University of Iowa College of Law
Resources:
Contact Megan
https://law.uiowa.edu/people/megan-graham
https://bsky.app/profile/megankgraham.bsky.social
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter was joined by Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors of Unchained Emily Napier-Singletary and Derek Singletary. Unchained is a non-profit organization based out of New York that seeks to "empower those currently and formerly incarcerated in the state of New York through policy development, community organizing and advocacy, research, and liberation education." On today's episode, Derek and Emily discuss what happened both inside and outside of New York prisons during the New York Correctional Officer Illegal Wild Cat Strike.
Guest
Emily Napier Singletary, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Unchained
Derek Singletary, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Unchained
Resources:
Unchained's Work
https://www.weareunchained.org/
Murder of Robert Brooks
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/us/robert-brooks-beating-security-guard-plea
https://theappeal.org/robert-brooks-murder-new-york-prisons-racism-brutality/
Illegal Wild Cat Strike
HALT Act
https://www.albanylaw.edu/government-law-center/explaining-the-halt-act
https://ig.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2024/08/nys-oig-doccs-halt-report-8.5.24.pdf
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
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Today, Hunter was joined by investigative journalist Anat Rubin to discuss her recent reporting on Public Defender Investigators in California. At times, investigators are the single most important person in a criminal defense case, and yet around the country, nearly all public defenders do not have access to necessary investigative resources. Today, Anat joins the show to discuss how the systemic underfunding of public defense investigators increases the risk of wrongful convictions by highlighting the story of an investigator who unsolved a murder.
Guest
Anat Rubin, Investigative Journalist, CalMatters
Resources:
Anat's Reporting
https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators-takeaways/
https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
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