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.
For more than one-third of a Americans, there is a record of their interaction with the criminal legal system. These records and the bureaucracy that controls them help make up a powerful paper prison that stops millions from ever accessing a meaningful second chance. Today, Hunter spoke with Professor Colleen Chien and Alyssa Aguilar about the Paper Prison Initiative to understand the problem. In some cases, people simply do not know how to access their second chance. In others, there are intentionally complicated barriers designed to get as many people as possible not to access their second chance. Whatever the reason may be, Colleen and Alyssa are dedicated to dismantling the impacts of these invisible but powerful Paper Prisons.
Guest:
Colleen Chien, Professor of Law, University of Santa Clara Law School, Founder, Paper Prison Initiative
Alyssa Aguilar, Juris Doctor Candidate 2023, University of Santa Clara Law School
Resources:
Professor Colleen Chien Faculty Page
https://law.scu.edu/faculty/profile/chien-colleen/
Paper Prison Initiative
Follow Paper Prisons Project on Twitter
https://twitter.com/paperprisons?lang=en
Follow Alyssa on Twitter
https://twitter.com/AlyssaLAguilar
Follow Colleen on Twitter
https://twitter.com/colleen_chien
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Today, Hunter spoke with David Siegel, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Law and Social Responsibility at New England Law, to discuss the ethical and social obligations of attorneys. Specifically, Hunter and David unpack the ways in which law schools are failing to educate and equip future lawyers with an understanding of a practical understanding of the law. Law school does a wonderful job of teaching students the theory of the law, but in failing to show the ways the theory falls short of the practice of law, students can graduate without an understanding of the realities in which the legal system abuses poor people and their public defenders. While it is not an easy task, hopefully this conversation will spark a deeper reflection on the many ways in which law school can be overhauled to create more ethical and socially responsible lawyers.
Guest:
David Siegel, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Law and Social Responsibility at New England Law
Resources:
David Siegel Faculty Page
https://www.nesl.edu/academics-faculty/faculty/profile/siegel-david
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Today, Hunter spoke with Felicia Tempel, Senior Investigator in the Barron County, Wisconsin Public Defender Office. As with all of the episodes covering a smaller Public Defender Offices, today's show is all about understanding the challenges that similarly cash and personnel regions of the country face in trying to create vibrant Public Defense Offices. If you will recall my episode on the lawsuit facing the state of Wisconsin, rural Wisconsin is struggling to get enough resources for contract counsel. As such, there are understandable short falls for the institutional Public Defender Offices as the state seeks to deal with one problem at a time. For the people who the office represent though? Waiting for more resources to come in might not be an option.
Guest:
Felicia Tempel, Senior Investigator, Barron County, Wisconsin
Resources:
Barron County Wisconsin PD Office
https://howtojustice.org/resources-services/barron-county-public-defenders-office-wi/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Today, Hunter sat down with Lindsay Bendell, LCSW Forensic Social Worker & Mitigation Specialist, to discuss the importance of non-capital mitigation. The concept of mitigation is a commonly known part of capital cases. In practice, mitigation are often some of the most important factors in getting someone a sentence of life over death. With that said, mitigation is almost unheard of in non-capital cases. Lindsay is hoping to change that. On today's episode, Hunter and Lindsay talked about the ins and outs of non-capital mitigation, why it is so essential to injecting empathy into the legal system, and why it isn't "making excuses" for bad behavior.
Guest:
Lindsay Bendell, LCSW Forensic Social Worker & Mitigation Specialist
Resources:
Follow Lindsay on
Twitter: https://twitter.com/lbendell_lcsw?lang=en
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/truecrimesocialworker/
Community Justice Services
https://www.communityjusticeservices.com/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Last week, Hunter spoke with LA County Chief Public Defender Ricardo Garcia to discuss the state of Public Defense in LA. Today, Hunter sat down with two Public Defenders, Garret Miller and Brooke Languevan, to get the LA Public Defenders Union perspective on the same question. While the two sides may not always agree on the best way to address the issues plaguing the offices, they both recognize the pressing need for more people, more funding, and a dramatic reimagining of the role Public Defense can and should play in community engagement. After listening to both episodes, what do you think is the best solution to cure the many ills of LA County Public Defense?
Guest:
Garret Miller, Public Defender, Los Angeles County, California
Brooke Longuevan, Public Defender, Los Angeles County, California
Resources:
Follow LA Public Defender Union on Twitter
https://twitter.com/LApubdefunion?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Follow the LA Public Defender Union on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/lapubdefunion/?hl=en
LA Public Defender Union Website
Justice LA
ACLU Socal
L.A. County shifts lawyer program for the poor from Bar Assn. to already busy public defender
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
In theory, the criminal legal system is designed to find the truth of a matter. In reality, the legal system has been sometimes intentionally and sometimes unintentionally constructed to be as efficient as possible while maintaining its institutional integrity. From plea deals to Executive Clemency, the legal system is often cruelly efficient at convicting the innocent and keeping the innocent looked in prison for decades. Why is that?
Today, Hunter sat down with Professor of Law, Daniel Medwed, to discuss his book Barred: Why the Innocent Can't Get Out of Prison to answer that question. At every step of the legal system, there are policies, procedures, and legal doctrines that work in concert to keep the innocent locked up as long as possible. Join us for a fascinating and frustrating examination of the legal machine that is so regularly disinterested in finding the truth and freeing the innocent.
Guest:
Daniel Medwed, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law
Resources:
Buy Barred
https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/daniel-s-medwed/barred/9781541675902/
Follow Daniel Medwed on Twitter
https://twitter.com/danielmedwed?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor
Arizona v Youngblood
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/488/51/
West Virginia Law Review Article on Arizona v Youngblood
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
More than 100 years ago, the first Public Defender Office opened in LA County thanks to the dedication and hard work of Clara Foltz. From that point on, the office grew into the largest office in the country. Today's guest, Ricardo Garcia, is the current Chief Public Defender of the Office and responsible for figuring out how to unlock the potential of the office. On top of the massive geographic and population challenges of providing Public Defense to LA County, Ricardo must also battle with the well organized and funded police and prosecutorial machine in LA County and California writ large. To fully unlock the potential power of the office, Ricardo hopes empowered supervisors will be able to better engage with the media and local communities. In doing so, Ricardo hopes the community will then apply the pressure necessary to force political change.
Guest:
Ricardo Garcia, Chief Public Defender, Los Angeles County California
Resource
LA County Public Defender
LA County Public Defender Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/lapubdef/
LA County Public Defender Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/LACOUNTYPD/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
Far too often, the injustices of our legal system go without media attention. This is exceptionally true when it comes to media coverage of the failings of Public Defense. Thankfully, there are a few intrepid investigative reports trying to bring to light the Public Defender Crisis. Today, I spoke with Emily Hamer, Investigative Reporter for Lee Enterprises' Pubic Service Journalism, to discuss her coverage of the Public Defender crisis in Western States in the seven part series "Broken Defense". As is so often the case, the severe limitations of Public Defender data collection make it so we only have a partial picture. Thankfully, the picture that Emily was able to paint with the resources available to her shows us enough to definitively state that Public Defense in Western states is failing.
Guest:
Emily Hamer, Investigative Reporter, Lee Enterprises' Public Service Journalism
Resource
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
When you hear the phrase "Bill of Rights", you like envision the first 10 amendments of the U.S. Constitution. You may conjure up the many individual liberties that are protected by that bill of rights as a way to limit the power of the government, but in some states, the government has its own bill of rights. Today on the show, Hunter spoke with three Public Defenders from the state of Delaware to discuss their law enforcement bill of rights. Kevin O'Connell, Misty Seemans, and Elliot Margules walk us through the history, implementation, and impacts of this quirky legal process that can make it exceedingly difficult for public defenders and even prosecutors to get their hands on evidence of police misconduct.
Guest:
Kevin O'Connell, Chief Public Defender, Delaware
Misty Seemans, Family Court Supervisor, Delaware
Elliot Margules, Special Litigation Attorney
Resources:
Delaware Public Defender
Sixth Amendment Center Report on Delaware
https://sixthamendment.org/6ac/6AC_delawarereport.pdf
https://delawarecall.com/2023/01/11/why-we-need-access-to-police-misconduct-records-in-delaware/
https://delawarecall.com/2023/01/30/why-we-need-access-to-police-misconduct-records-in-delaware-2/
Delaware Code: Delaware's LEOBOR
https://delcode.delaware.gov/title11/c092/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
60 years ago, Clarence Gideon changed the legal landscape of America forever. Thanks to his self-written petition to the Supreme Court, it was finally recognized at the federal level that any person charged with a felony who cannot afford to hire was entitled to one under the 6th Amendment. Soon, that right would be extended to a person facing any possibility of confinement, and thus, our modern understanding of Public Defense was born.
On today's episode, Hunter spoke with to members of the Bronx defenders to reflect on the legacy of Gideon. Justine Olderman, Executive Director, and Wesley Caines, Chief of Staff, are part of the team at the Bronx Defenders trying to take the lessons from the past to drive new innovations in Public Defense. From the perspective of the attorneys and the formerly incarcerated, today's episode attempts to look at the strategic end state Public Defense hopes to achieve and the what it will take to achieve it.
Guest:
Justine Olderman, Executive Director, Bronx Defenders
Wesley Caines, Chief of Staff, Bronx Defenders
Resource
Bronx Defenders
https://www.bronxdefenders.org/staff/justine-olderman/
Follow Wesley on Twitter
https://twitter.com/bm_mansamusa
Follow Justine on Twitter
Inquest Series on Public Defense
https://inquest.org/tag/public-defenders/
Contact Hunter Parnell:
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
@PDefenselessPod
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