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.
A Bonus Episode for everyone! On Monday, I had a discussion/debate with Daniel Carr, a former cop from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Today, we discussed/debated the use of force in the SrA Roger Fortson, the Execution of Marcellus Williams, and the citation issued to a homeless, pregnant woman in Louisville Kentucky
Guest
Daniel Carr, Police Law Newsletter
Resources:
Links to Daniel's Work
https://linktr.ee/policelawnews
SrA Roger Fortson Case
https://apnews.com/article/airman-shot-florida-deputy-roger-fortson-760057db9fd9c7b2f25e85b1b285e8e3
Execution of Marcellus Williams
Pregnant KY Woman Cited for Unlawful Camping
https://www.wlky.com/article/body-cam-footage-lmpd-citing-pregnant-homeless-woman-labor/63251559
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/dec/20/pregnant-kentucky-woman-labor
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Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
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Thank you to everyone who has made the show possible this year. Whether you are a listener, a subscriber, a guest, or a friend of the show, this show would not be possible without you! Thanks for another amazing year, and Hunter is looking forward to another incredible year in 2025.
*NO EPISODES THIS THURSDAY OR NEXT TUESDAY*
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter is joined by professor Ráchael Powers to discuss Marsy's Law. For those unfamiliar, Marsy's Law is one of many types of Victim's Bill of Rights law that exist around the country. These laws are designed to give victims of crime more rights in the criminal legal system. The only problem? They often directly conflict with the rights of the accused. Today, Ráchael joins us to talk about a report she published for the NACDL about the dangers of Marsy's Law.
Guests:
Ráchael Powers
Resources:
Contact Ráchael
https://researchdirectory.uc.edu/p/powersro
https://x.com/rpowerscrim?lang=en
Read the Report
https://www.nacdl.org/Document/JusticeforNoneHowMarsysLawUnderminesCrimLegalSys
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter is joined once again by Eric Fish and Chesa Boudin. This time, Eric and Chesa join the show to discuss a recent law review article they published discussing ways to strengthen pre-trial adjudication. As discussed at length on the show, our criminal legal system has killed the jury trial. As a result, opportunities to bring injustices, misconduct, and corruption to light have faded away. Chesa and Eric's law review article attempts to point out places around the country that have figured out ways to revive adversarial aspects of our legal system before trial. In doing so, they offer a pathway that criminal defense lawyers may be able to increase their chances to oppose the governments case in public.
Guests:
Chesa Boudin, Executive Director, UC Berkley Criminal Law and Justice Center
Eric Fish, Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law
Resources:
Contact Chesa
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/chesa-boudin/#tab_profile
https://x.com/chesaboudin?lang=en
Contact Eric
https://law.ucdavis.edu/people/eric-fish
Law Review Article
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5026754
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
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@PDefenselessPod
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Today, Hunter is joined by Professor Jacob Charles to discuss the Second Amendment. Since D.C. v Heller in 2008, the Second Amendment transformed from nearly dead letter law to one of the most rapidly changing areas of the Constitution. Jake joins the show to detail that transformation and explain the impacts it is having on our legal system.
Guests:
Jacob Charles, Professor of Law, Pepperdine University Caruso School of Law
Resources:
Contact Jake
https://law.pepperdine.edu/faculty-research/jacob-charles/
https://bsky.app/profile/jacobdcharles.bsky.social
SSRN
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/cf_dev/AbsByAuth.cfm?per_id=1714457
Heller
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/554/570/
Bruen
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf
Rahimi
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/23pdf/22-915_8o6b.pdf
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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@PDefenselessPod
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Today, Hunter is joined by Dr. Julie Mack and Randy Papetti to discuss Shaken Baby Syndrome. Also known as Abusive Head Trauma, Shaken Baby Syndrome started out as an untested hypothesis meant to help parents keep their children safe. However, police and prosecutors quickly realized the power SBS had to secure convictions. Since then, dozens of people's convictions have been overturned as courts around the country realize that SBS is an unfounded, junk science that does not belong in the criminal court room.
Guests:
Dr. Julie Mack, Radiologist
Randy Papetti, Attorney
Resources:
CATO Institute on Shaken Baby Syndrome https://www.cato.org/events/shaken-baby-syndrome-examining-evidence-shadow-execution
Randy's Book on Shaken Baby Syndrome
https://www.amazon.com/Forensic-Unreliability-Shaken-Baby-Syndrome/dp/0998904333
Feigned Consensus: Usurping the Law in Shaken Baby Syndrome/ Abusive Head Trauma Prosecutions
https://repository.law.umich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3104&context=articles
Swedish Study on SBS
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28130787/
Robert Roberson
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/10/29/robert-roberson-shaken-baby-texas-death-row-evidence/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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@PDefenselessPod
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Today, Hunter is joined by Rob Perkins and Dan Eichinger to discuss Public Defense in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. If you've listened to the show long enough, then you know that Pennsylvania was one of the last states to provide any funding for Public Defense. While the $7.5 million allocated to support Public Defense is welcome, it is insufficient to account for the decades of underfunding/understaffing in places like Allegheny County. Yet, Dan and Rob believe that with the help of new county leadership, they can finally meet the demands of Gideon in Allegheny County.
Guests:
Rob Perkins, Executive Director, Allegheny Lawyer's Initiative for Justice
Daniel Eichinger, Program Administrator, Wayne County Indigent Defense Services
Resources:
Allegheny Lawyers Initiative for Justice
Allegheny Public Defender Report
https://www.ali4j.org/research-report-a-path-forward
ACLU Report
https://www.aclupa.org/en/job-left-undone-allegheny-countys-fork-road
2018 Coverage of Public Defense
Email Rob
rob@robperkinslaw.com
During the Episode Dan, mentioned Racial Disparity in Allegheny County. Here is an additional note from him:
RAND_RTI_Final_Report.pdf (pitt.edu)
Additionally, I mentioned that half of all charges filed against Black people arise from a police initiated encounter. My phrasing could have been more precise as the paper refers to charges arising out of "Black neighborhoods" (as opposed to Black people) and I didn't mention the numbers in terms of the disparity between White neighborhoods, so I wanted to make sure your listeners had the exact language from the report:
(Pg. 47 of the report, pg. 91 of the document):
"In particular, charges that are filed in Black neighborhoods are almost equally likely to initiate from either a call for service or a low-priority law enforcement action (30% versus 27%). However, in the White matched neighborhoods, charges are more than twice as likely to originate from a call for service than from a low-priority law enforcement action (38% versus 17%)."
Additionally, the percentage of charges growing out of a police-initiated interaction is likely higher because, as the authors note (pg. 46):
"Thirty-two percent of the cases could not be matched to the 911 call data. As noted in the previous section, these are likely to be instances where law enforcement officers initiated an action but did not call it in. These unmatched cases are thus classified as unidentified law enforcement–initiated actions."
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter is joined by Professor Stephen Bright to discuss his new book, the Fear of Too Much Justice. Over decades of work as an attorney, Steve has been a leading voice against the death penalty and in support of major overhauls to our criminal legal system. Today, Steve joins the show to discuss how the Fear of Too Much Justice is stopping people from reforming our criminal legal system.
Guests:
Stephen Bright, Professor of Law, Yale University School of Law
Resources:
Stephen Bright's Faculty Page
https://law.yale.edu/stephen-b-bright
Fear of Too Much Justice
https://www.thefearoftoomuchjustice.com/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
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@PDefenselessPod
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Today, Hunter is joined the Editor of the Virginia Defender Newspaper, Phil Wilayto to try and understand a simple question: Why are people incarcerated at Virginia's Red Onion State Super Max Prison self-immolating just to get transferred to a new prison?
Guests:
Phil Wilayto, Editor, Virginia Defender Newspaper
Resources:
On Saturday, Dec. 7, the Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality will hold a public meeting titled "Crisis at Red Onion Supermax: How you can help!" The meeting will take place at Wesley Memorial United Methodist Church, 1720 Mechanicsville Turnpike, in Richmond's East End.
For more information, call, or text the Defenders at 804-644-5834 or email DefenddersFJE@hotmail.com.
Crisis at Red Onion Face Book Page
More Coverage
https://www.wvtf.org/news/2024-11-12/fearful-prisoners-use-desperate-measures-to-protest
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/30/red-onion-state-prison-protest
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/01/us/virginia-prisoners-burns-protest.html
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
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Donate on PayPal
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Today, Hunter is joined by Professor Joanna Schwartz to discuss Civil Rights Litigation. Like they did for the rights of criminal defendants, the conservative legal movement has slowly chipped away at Civil Rights protections under Section 1983. Today, Joanna joins to talk about the many ways it is nearly impossible for a person to get a remedy after the government violates their civil rights.
Guests:
Joanna Schwartz, Professor of Law, UCLA
Resources:
Follow Joanna on Twitter
Joanna's Website
https://www.joannaschwartz.net/
https://law.ucla.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/joanna-c-schwartz
Vallejo Police Coverage
https://www.kqed.org/news/11769266/the-long-storied-history-of-police-community-tension-in-vallejo
https://www.propublica.org/article/vallejo-police-killing-investigations
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/11/23/how-a-deadly-police-force-ruled-a-city
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
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Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!
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