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 sat down with once again with Travis Finck, the Executive Director of the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents. This time, we discuss the precarious place that Public Defense is in the state. With major staffing shortfalls, the full time Public Defenders have massive vacancy rates, and with low contract pay, there are only so many private counsels willing to take on attorneys. What can be done to avert a crisis? Hopefully it starts with the legislatures recent realization that there just might be a crisis if they continue to do nothing.
Guests:
Travis Finck, Executive Director, North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents
Resources:
Link to Legislative Meeting with Video, Presentation and Report (video starts at 2:28)
https://ndlegis.gov/events/2024/03/07/judiciary-committee
News Coverage of the Issues
ND CLCI Website
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*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 sat down with Grant Miller a Utah Public Defender running for Utah House District 24. Throughout the course of the show, Hunter and numerous guests have discussed the importance of getting the public defender experience into legislatures around the country. Part of the reason our laws are so skewed towards police and prosecutors is because police and prosecutors drastically outnumber the public defenders in the legislature. Grant aims to change that with a campaign that revolves around injecting the humanity that public defenders use in their daily fights for their clients.
Guests:
Grant Miller, Public Defender and Candidate for Utah House District 24, Salt Lake City
Resources:
Grants Contacts and Websites
https://www.grantmillerforhouse24.com/
https://www.instagram.com/grantistheguy/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-miller-955700b0/
Secure a Ballot in Utah
https://vote.utah.gov/learn-about-voting-by-mail-and-absentee-voting/
Election Day Vote Centers Salt Lake City
https://slco.org/clerk/elections/voting-in-person/election-day-vote-centers/
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*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 sat down with Duci Goncalves and Lael Chester to discuss how Massachusetts has started to reimagine how the criminal legal system treats emerging adults. As most of us remember, we didn't always make the best choices as children, and that questionable decision making didn't just improve the moment we turned 18. Yet in the criminal legal system, 18 is treated as a magic number where suddenly we assume you are a fully developed adult. With new brain science, we understand that 18 is not some magic number, and those between the ages of 18-25 still have a developing brain. To adhere to our understanding of modern brain science, Massachusetts is setting out on a new path to how the legal system handles emerging adult offenders.
Guests:
Duci Goncalves, Deputy Chief Counsel, Youth Advocacy Division, Committee For Public Counsel Services, Massachusetts
Lael Chester, Director, Emerging Adult Justice Project, Columbia University Justice Lab
Resources:
Lael's Faculty Page
https://justicelab.columbia.edu/people/lael-chester
Massachusetts Changes LWOP for Emerging Adults
Commonwealth v Robinson
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703587.html
Commonwealth v Mattis
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703895.html
Emerging Adult Innovation with CPCS
a) Website page on the national EAJ Developmental Framework project: https://www.eajustice.org/ea-developmental-framework
b) Announcement of the launch of the project: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c6458c07788975dfd586d90/t/642b478230438b045ee02455/1680557954756/Columbia+Justice+Lab+Announcement+of+EAJ+Innovation+Sites+3.31.23.pdf
c) JJIE article: https://jjie.org/2023/05/11/1442839/
Emerging Adult Information
Raise the Age Campaign
https://www.raisetheagema.org/
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*Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter is joined once again by University of Michigan Professor of Law Eve Primus. So far, Eve and Hunter have discussed Public Defender Systems, Structures, and how Law Schools can do better at getting students interested in Public Defense. However, today's conversation is focused on her upcoming law review article about how courts around the country have eroded the famous Miranda warnings and what we can do about it.
Guests:
Eve Primus, Professor of Law, University of Michigan
Resources:
The State[s] of Confession Law in a Post-Miranda World: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4742148
The Future of Confession Law: Toward Rules for the Voluntariness Test: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2540302
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*Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter is joined Lucian Dervan, Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Justice Studies at Belmont College and Founding Director of the Plea Bargaining Institute. For more than a decade, Lucian has been at the forefront of uncovering the troubling issues with America's plea deal driven criminal legal system. Lucian founded the Plea Bargaining Institute in order to bring together the latest and greatest research and caselaw on plea bargaining to help people challenge our plea bargaining system.
Guests:
Lucian Dervan, Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Justice Studies, Belmont College of Law, Founding Director of the Plea Bargaining Institute
Resources:
Plea Bargaining Institute
https://pleabargaininginstitute.com/
Brady v US
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/397/742/
Lucian's Faculty Page
https://www.belmont.edu/profiles/lucian-dervan/
14 Principles of Plea Bargaining
Plea Bargaining Study
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=jclc
Follow Lucian
https://x.com/luciandervan?lang=en
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*Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorao Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter is joined by another amazing guest from the Wren Collective, Adrienne Johnson. Today's conversation is about their report on Public Defense in Gwinnet County, Georgia. While there is a state wide Public Defender in Georgia, Gwinnet County has been able to maintain its independence from the state system. If Public Defender's in Gwinnett County want to maintain that independence, it is essential that they address some of the glaring problems in Public Defense that this report exposed.
Guests:
Adrienne Johnson, Senior Counsel, Wren Collective
Resources:
Read the Report Here
https://www.wrencollective.org/_files/ugd/8fe8f0_ff1ad77fe24b47db9bb6fef98d6aad47.pdf
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*Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter is joined once again by Justice Text Co-Founder Devshi Mehrotra to discuss how Justice Text is helping Public Defender Office's enter the digital era. This time, Devshi brought Elisabeth Pollock, Chief of the Champaign IL Public Defender Office, to talk about the serious digital overhaul Elisabeth undertook once she took charge of the office. Coming from the federal system, Elisabeth was used to a fully digital system, so it came as quiet a shock when Elisabeth realized that her new office in Champaign County was a completely paper-based system. Thankfully with the help of Justice Text, Elisabeth was able to quickly digitize the office and finally start analysing the countless hours of body camera generated by their cases.
Guests:
Elisabeth Pollock, Chief Public Defender, Champaign County, Illinois
Devshi Mehrotra, Co-Founder, Justice Text
Resources:
Justice Text
Chicago Appleseed Fair Trial
https://www.chicagoappleseed.org/
Elisabeth Contact
https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisabeth-pollock-38377110/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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*Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorao Office of the State Public Defender*
Today, Hunter is joined once again by Patricia Warth, Director of the NY Office of Indigent Legal Services. This time, Hunter and Patricia discuss the in the weeds budget moves that are threatening vital programs in New York Public Defense. Specifically, they talk about the failing family court system and how a sweep up of funds may endanger an already struggling practice.
Guests:
Patricia Warth, Director, New York Office of Indigent Legal Services
Resources:
Coverage of the Fund Sweep Up
https://www.nylpi.org/resource/ilsf-sweep-organization-sign-on-letter-3-21-24/
https://nysba.org/nysba-supports-funding-of-the-indigent-legal-services-fund/
ILS Website
https://www.ils.ny.gov/node/7/ils-office
Email Patricia
Patricia.Warth@ils.ny.gov
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Today, Hunter is joined by the newest State Public Defender of California, Galit Lipa. As discussed on previous episodes, California has a county based public defender system. As such, Galit and her office sit in a limited role to help train public defenders around the state. Following a law suit and several reports highlighting the failings of public defense in California, Galit and her team could prove to be a pivotal voice in rethinking the delivery of California public defense.
Guests:
Galit Lipa, State Public Defender, California Office of the State Public Defender
Resources:
Contact Galit
https://www.linkedin.com/in/galit-lipa/
OSPD
https://www.ospd.ca.gov/ospd-sharepoint-pages/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter is joined by Molly Gilbert and Jason Schwarz to discuss the plan to implement Public Defender workload standards across the state of Washington. Despite not being a centralized Public Defender system, the Public Defenders of Washington, spurred by the State Supreme Court, figured out how to work with the state bar to get workload standards. As they sit on the verge of getting enforceable standards approved by the State Supreme Court, Hunter, Molly, and Jason explore how these workload standards came to be and what other states can learn from this process.
Guests:
Molly Gilbert, Investigator and Union President, Department of Public Defense, King County Washington
Jason Schwarz, Director, Snohomish County, Washington
Resources:
News Coverage of New Workload Standards
https://www.wsba.org/connect-serve/committees-boards-other-groups/council-public-defense
Email Jason
Jason.Schwarz@co.snohomish.wa.us
Email Molly
mollygilbertseiu@gmail.com
WSBA Meeting
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