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 is joined by the Sixth Amendment Center's Deputy Director Aditi Goel. This time, Hunter and Aditi the Sixth Amendment Center's newest report on the state of Public Defense on the island of Guam. Relative to Public Defense systems in the continental United States, Guam's Public Defender system is in its infancy, but the problems are familiar. Lack of independence, lack of lawyers, and an Attorney General who thinks better Public Defense=more crime all create a system that is in desperate need of help. Fortunately, the Public Defender Community on the island are deeply committed to getting Guam's Public Defender system to where it needs to be.
Guests: Aditi Goel, Deputy Director, Sixth Amendment Center
Resources:
Sixth Amendment Center Report on Guam
https://6ac.org/guam-report-finds-undue-judicial-influence-over-indigent-defense/
Guam AG comments
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!
https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home
Today, Hunter is joined by professor Samantha Simon, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. This episode is a deep dive into Professor Simon's book, Before the Badge: How the Academy Training Shapes Police Violence. In it, Professor Simon embed herself into various police academy training programs to try and understand how police academies select, train, and prepare the next generation of police officers. Through her work, we gain an excellent insight into the challenges with changing the culture of violence that is so prevalent in American policing.
Guests: Samantha Simon PhD, Professor of Sociology, University of Arizona
Resources:
Professor Simon's Faculty Page
https://sociology.arizona.edu/person/samantha-simon
Pick up a Copy of Before the Badge
https://nyupress.org/9781479813278/before-the-badge/
Coverage of SrA Roger Fortson
Donate to SrA Roger Fortson's GoFundMe
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!
https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home
Today, Hunter is joined by Jim Billings, the Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services. At the very start of the show, Hunter spoke with then Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, Justin Andrus, to discuss the problems facing Maine Public Defense. As a reminder, Maine was the only state that relied 100% on contract lawyers and no full time public defense offices. Since then, the crisis has only worsened. There are hundreds of people currently without counsel, and while the long term outlook looks promising, the short to medium term outlook face serious problems.
Guests: Jim Billings, Executive Director, Maine Commission on Public Defense Services
Resources:
Maine Unrepresented Crisis
https://www.aclumaine.org/en/mainesgrowingcrisis
Man released after bail lowered due to lack of Public Defenders
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
Today, Hunter is joined by University of Utah law Professor, Matthew Tokson, to discuss his most recent law review article The Reality of the Good Faith Exception. For those unfamiliar with it, the good faith exception is a way that the courts have side stepped unconstitutional actions by police and prosecutors. Specifically, if a cop executes a search, but it later turns out that it was based on an illegal warrant, that will not matter so long as the officer acted in good faith. How can we so easily excuse violations of the Constitution and what does it mean for our right to privacy? The answers to those questions and more are found on this episode!
Guests: Matthew Tokson, Professor of Law, University of Utah
Resources:
US v Leon
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/468/897/
The Reality of the Good Faith Exception Article
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4414248
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
Today, Hunter spoke once again with Radley Balko, a long-time investigative journalist, to discus his most recent reporting on public defense in Florida and Georgia. As has been discussed on the show previously, both states are struggling to meet the promises of Gideon. For Florida, the state has continued to move in a "tough on crime" direction and seems fine with leaving public defense ill equipped to handle the cases. In Georgia, the lack of independence leaves the system unable to properly advocate for its needs and the needs of their clients.
Guests:
Radley Balko, Investigative Journalist
Resources:
Read Radley's Coverage Here
https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-states-of-indigent-defense-part-6eb
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
*As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter spoke with the Chief Federal Public Defender for the District of Kansas to discuss independence, or the lack thereof, for federal public defenders. Unlike many state systems, the federal system is at the mercy of the federal judiciary. As a result of this judicial oversight, the federal public defenders can be hesitant to be as vocal and aggressive in their public advocacy. Over the past year, the hiring freeze for federal public defense demonstrated the pressing need to remove the federal public defenders out from the control of the bench.
Guests:
Melody Brannon, Chief Federal Public Defender, District of Kansas
Resources:
Annual Federal Defenders Reports
https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/defender-services-annual-report-2022
https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/defender-services-annual-report-2023
NACDL Coverage on Lack of Independence
https://www.nacdl.org/Article/August2015-InsideNACDLAFundamentalFlawint
2017 REPORT OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT
NACDL Testimony to Judicial Conference
https://www.nacdl.org/getattachment/84b11595-12a0-43d9-89ed-6af4fd732d84/gerry-morris-testimony.pdf
Hiring Freeze
Eval of Interim Recommendations from the Cardone Report
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
*As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter spoke once again w/Bob Kolstad and for the first time Veronica Surges. Both are public defenders in the state of Minnesota, and they joined the show to discuss how the organized a strike authorization and how that threat of a strike helped them secure the largest pay raises in the history of Minnesota Public Defense.
Guests:
Bob Kolstad, Public Defender, Hennepin County, Minnesota
Veronica Surges, Public Defender, 6th District, Minnesota
Resources:
Contact Bob
bob@robertkolstad.com
Read About the Strike Threat and It's Results
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
*As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter kicks off a week about Public Defense in Minnesota by speaking with the Chief Public Defender of the State, Bill Ward. Throughout this episode, Bill and Hunter discuss workloads, workload refusal, the recent budgetary victories he's helped secure, and what is needed to ensure Public Defenders in Minnesota are not drowning in cases.
Guests:
Bill Ward, Chief Public Defender, Minnesota
Resources:
Minnesota Public Defender Website
https://www.pubdef.state.mn.us/
Minnesota Public Defender Twitter
Bill Ward Linkedin
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
*As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter is joined by long time Capital Defender, Sharon Turlington. Today, the two discuss cases that bookended Sharon's career in Missouri. Both cases involved an in the weeds evidentiary rule that prohibits testimony that points to the guilt of a person who is not on trial. In one of her earliest cases, this rule kept the jury from hearing that a third party ADMITTED TO COMMITING THE CRIME IN QUESITON. In her last case, it kept the jury from hearing that FIVE people pointed to another person who had far more evidence pointing his direction. Together with the episodes from the past two days, this episode highlights the many ways the deck is stacked against criminal defendants.
Guests:
Sharon Turlington, Long Time Capital Public Defender, Missouri
Resources:
The Cases
State v Malik Nettles ED74494 (1999)
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/mo-court-of-appeals/1163320.html
State v Kylr Yust WD84633 (2023)
https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/court-of-appeals/2023/wd84633.html
Contact Sharon
sharonturlington@icloud.com
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
*As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter is joined by Jason Gain, a West Virginia Post Conviction defense attorney. On this episode, the two continue the miniseries covering the dangers of convictions secured through uncorroborated evidence. This time, we discuss the recent victory that Jason secured for his client, Lamont Dees. After more than five years of incarceration, Mr. Dees was freed because his conviction was secured thanks to the help of one cop's perjury, his attorneys ineffective assistance of counsel, and the willingness of prosecutors to pursue cases based on uncorroborated witness statements. As is so often the case, compare how easy it is to put an innocent person away and how difficult it is to free an innocent person.
Guests:
Jason Gain, Post Conviction Defense Attorney, West Virginia
Resources:
Read About Mr. Dees story
https://www.loshmountainlegal.com/post/dees-freed-habeas-win-in-west-virginia
Contact Jason
https://www.loshmountainlegal.com/contact
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
*As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Our TOPPODCAST Picks 
