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 two fierce advocates for youth justice in the state of Tennessee. Chris Kleiser, a Knox County Public Defender, and Meribah Knight, a Senior Reporter for Special Projects with Nashville Public Radio, bring us a story of how one rouge judge illegally policed and caged young people in Rutherford County Tennessee. Many of you may have read the shocking reporting last year about Judge Donna Scott Davenport. Over more than two decades, she abused her position of power on the bench, and today's episode is designed to figure out what structural things in the Tennessee criminal legal system allow this to happen.
Guests:
Christina Kleiser, Assistant Public Defender and Youth Lead, Knox County, Tennessee
Meribah Knight, Senior Reporter for Special Projects, Nashville Public Radio
Resources:
Black Children Were Jailed for a Crime That Doesn't Exist. Almost Nothing Happened to the Adults in Charge
https://www.propublica.org/article/black-children-were-jailed-for-a-crime-that-doesnt-exist
Judge Davenport Plans to Retire
Check out the In Defense of Children Podcast
https://open.spotify.com/show/5RrAfBAibvkm117xBx8GmW
https://www.instagram.com/indefenseofchildrenpodcast/
Follow Meribah Knight on Twitter
https://twitter.com/meribah?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Read Meribah's Work
https://www.meribahknight.com/
Serial's Podcast with Meribah
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/19/podcasts/serial-kids-rutherford-county.html
https://open.spotify.com/show/4SwSDvOGcbc4cPA52nS4ww
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-kids-of-rutherford-county/id1707247008
Knox County Public Defender
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Today's guest brings a decade plus of experience in criminal justice policy reform to the San Francisco Public Defender Office. Hunter spoke with Angela Chan, Chief of Confront and Advocate, the policy branch of the SF Public Defender Office. In most places, District Attorneys operate by themselves in the policy world, and that is part of the reason that our society is awash with their policy preferences. In San Francisco however, Brooke Jenkins must compete with the powerful voice of Angela, Mano, and the rest of the policy centric branches of the San Francisco Public Defender.
Guests:
Angela Chan, Chief of Confront and Advocate, San Francisco Public Defender's Office
Resources:
SF Public Defender Office Hires Angela Chan
SF Public Defender Office
Brooke Jenkins Blames Judges for Crisis
SF Public Defender Twitter
https://twitter.com/sfdefender?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Brooke Jenkins Misconduct
https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/brooke-jenkins-misconduct-18338499.php
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Today, Hunter spoke with a longtime investigator in the innocence movement, Adam Deutsch, to discuss the wrongful conviction of Tim Wright. In 2008, was convicted of the murder of Justin Baumgardner, but after more than a decade behind bars, evidence is mounting that Tim is behind bars as a result of an elaborate cover up by the Amherst County Deputy Sheriffs. With the help of bad ballistics, bad cellular triangulation, and a witness with every motive to lie, Tim was convicted. Thankfully, there are people like Adam and Tim's wife Danielle tirelessly fighting for the truth to come to light.
Guests:
Adam Deutsch, Investigator and Founder of Synergy Intelligence Holdings
Resources:
Tim Wright 2018 Georgetown Making an Exoneree
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXiv05XlrJ0
Tim Wright Uncuff the Innocent
https://www.uncufftheinnocent.org/tim-wright-jr
Tim Wright's Website
Tim Wright Twitter
https://twitter.com/innocence4tim?lang=en
Contact Adam
http://www.synergyintelligence.com/
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*There was an issue with the file uploading to the podcast platforms. It has been corrected! Apologies*
Today, Hunter spoke with Iowa Public Defender, Darren Page, to peel back the layers of Public Defense in Iowa to try and understand why the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court said the system was in a state of crisis. On many episodes, Hunter likes to explore how states determine if someone should get a Public Defender and if states make those who get a Public Defender reimburse the state for the costs. In Iowa, the state has decided to narrowly define who is too poor to qualify for a Public Defender while also mandating that people reimburse the state for costs. While this is not what's causing the crisis, it is a signal of a system desperate for reforms.
Guests:
Darren Page, Assistant Public Defender, Des Moines, Iowa
Resources:
Iowa Public Defender in a state of Crisis
Iowa State Public defender
Iowa Public Defender Strategic Plan 2019-2023
https://spd.iowa.gov/sites/default/files/SPD%20Strategic%20Plan%20-%202019-2023.pdf
Iowa Annual Public Defender Reports
https://spd.iowa.gov/about-us/spd-reports
Iowa Living Wage
https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/19
National Poverty Guidelines
https://www.healthcare.gov/glossary/federal-poverty-level-FPL/
United Way Iowa
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Joining Hunter today is Keith Wattley, the Founder and Executive Director of Uncommon Law. Keith and his team at Uncommon Law support people navigating California's discretionary parole process through trauma-informed legal representation, mental health counselling, legislative and policy advocacy, and in-prison programming led by those who have been through the process themselves. For decades, people have been aware of the pervasive bias that infects the parole system of California, but little has changed to address it. That's where Keith and Uncommon Law come in.
Guests:
Keith Wattley, Founder and Executive Director, Uncommon Law
Resources:
Uncommon Law Website
Follow Uncommon Law on
https://www.instagram.com/uncommonlawyer/
https://www.facebook.com/UnCommonLaw/
1. The Compassion Prison Project has some great information about rates of trauma - in particular, childhood trauma - among people in prison, and the relationship between Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and incarceration
2. The Sentencing Project has several really excellent reports about our country's enduring reliance on life sentencing, how ineffective these kinds of sentences actually are in promoting public safety, and the relationship between life sentencing and mass incarceration
3. Speaking of the Sentencing Project, Keith recently authored this op ed in The Crime Report with their Senior Director of Advocacy Nicole Porter, which explores similar ideas
4. The Justice Policy Institute recently released this analysis of Maryland's parole process, highlighting several of the same issues we see in California.
5. Similarly, there has been fairly regular coverage of the racial biases evident in New York's parole hearing decisions in recent years
6. Finally, feel free to check out this video series our organization put out last year; it explores cycles of violence from the perspectives of people who have both survived and caused harm, and gives a good sense of our work and messaging
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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Today, Hunter is joined by criminal defense attorney and former public defender Amelia Power to discuss her role in defending those who protested the killing of Elijah McClain. As is so often the case, those who used their 1st Amendment rights to protest the abuses of police found themselves facing hefty prison time.
Guests:
Amelia Power, Criminal Defense Attorney, Colorado
Resources:
Media Coverage of the Case
https://www.westword.com/news/elijah-mcclain-protesters-charges-dropped-12335973
https://www.apowerlaw.com/media
Contact Amelia
Elijah McClain
https://www.nytimes.com/article/who-was-elijah-mcclain.html
FBI Informants in the Colorado Racial Justice Movement
https://theintercept.com/2023/02/07/fbi-denver-racial-justice-protests-informant/
Aurora Police Response to Violin Vigil
https://abcnews.go.com/US/city-aurora-sued-police-response-violin-vigil-elijah/story?id=71951197
PSL
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While the Innocence Project has continuously done amazing work in revealing just how flawed our legal system can be, there has always been limits on the cases they take. Normally, these have been confined to cases where DNA evidence can definitively exonerate the wrongfully convicted. This practice can and does leave out countless people who are factually innocent behind bars. Today, Hunter spoke with Valena Beety to examine the women and LGBTQ community members who have been wrongfully convicted and how to best go about expanding the innocence movement.
Guests:
Valena Beety, Professor of Law, Indiana University Mercer School of Law, Founding Director of the West Virginia Innocence Project
Resources:
Valena Beety's Webpage
Buy Valena's Book
Lambda Law
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Few organizations have been able to demonstrate the injustice of our criminal legal system quite like the Innocence Project, but their fight against the things that manifest that injustice is far from over. Today, I spoke with Christina Swarns, Executive Director of the Innocence Project, to discuss how the organization plans to combat some of the most pressing issues contributing to wrongful convictions. From massively overworked Public Defenders, all kinds of implicit biases, and ever emerging forensic sciences, the Innocence Project hopes that their continued public advocacy will push back against these societal ills.
Guests:
Christina Swarns, Executive Director, Innocence Project
Resources:
Innocence Project Website
Follow the Innocence Project on
Twitter: https://twitter.com/innocence?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/innocenceproject/?hl=en
Buck v Davis
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/16pdf/15-8049_f2ah.pdf
https://www.oyez.org/cases/2016/15-8049
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Another union episode and another union episode predicated on a communication failure, a cost-of-living crisis and a desperate need for a fair contract. Today, Hunter spoke with three members of the NDS Harlem union, William Botchway, Naomi Schachter and Jeremy Tinsley, to discuss where the NDS Harlem stands now two months past the expiration of their previous contract. For everyone from entry level attorneys to social workers, and housing advocates, the compensation at NDS Harlem is simply not enough to survive with New Yorks exorbitant cost of living. Without a new, fair contract, NDS Harlem will surely start to bleed talent in a way that no office can afford.
Guests:
William Botchway, Housing Advocate and Union Member, NDS Harlem
Jeremy Tinsley, Criminal Defense Attorney and Union Member, NDS Harlem
Naomi Schachter, Social Worker in the Family Defense Unit and Union Member, NDS Harlem
Resources:
NDS Harlem
https://neighborhooddefender.org/locations/harlem/
NDS Union on Twitter
NDS Union Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/ndsunion/
ALAA Union Twitter
https://twitter.com/alaa2325?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Housing Crisis in New York
Living Wage New York
https://livingwage.mit.edu/counties/36061
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Today, Hunter continues his exploration of the criminal legal system in Alaska. Joining him today is Fairbanks Public Defender, Justin Racette. On Tuesday, folks from the ACLU of Alaska talked us through how the turn to tough on crime polices created brutal prison conditions, and today, we will see how those policies have impacted the ability for Alaska Public Defenders to provide competent representation to each of their clients.
Guests:
Justin Racette, Assistant Public Defender, Fairbanks Alaska
Resources:
Alaska Public Defender
Alaska Public Defender Case Refusal
Contact Hunter Parnell:
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