Public Defenseless

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Professor Shira Diner. Last time she was on the show, she explained why the bar advocates in Massachusetts stopped accepting new cases. This time, she joins to explain how the Legislature and Judiciary responded and what comes next for the state.     Guest: Shira Diner, Professor of Law, Boston University   Resource:   Read the Case Here   https://statecourtr...

Today, Hunter was joined by Damon Silver Chief Defender of the Santa Clara County Public Defender. Home to Silicon Valley, Santa Clara County is struggling with a large budget deficit due to federal budget cuts. As such, the Public Defender Office has lost full time positions and is facing a severe workload crisis.   Guest: Damon Silver, Chief Public Defender, Santa Clara County, California   Reso...

Today, Hunter was joined by Colin Charbonneau and Victoria Blumhorst, two Public Defender leaders from Spokane, Washington. They joined the show to explain why they decided to sue their county over the workload standards the county recently imposed.   Guest: Colin Charbonneau, Director, Spokane County Public Defenders, Washington Victoria Blumhorst, Director, Counsel for Defense, Spokane, Washingt...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Shannon Wilson and Stacey Lowe. The last time these two Public Defender Leaders in Oregon were on the show, they discussed why they were suing the Oregon Public Defense Commission. Today, they join to discuss their victory in court and what it means for Public Defense in Oregon.     *** Note for the show: After recording, editing and publishing the show, Carl...

Today, Hunter was joined by Nia Holston from the Abolitionist Law Center and Sean Damon of Straight-Ahead to discuss a case out of Pennsylvania. In Commonwealth v. Lee , the Pennsylvania Supreme Court   struck down mandatory life without the possibility of parole for felony murder convictions because those sentences violated the states prohibition on cruel punishments.     Guest: Nia Holston, Staf...

Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Deborah Lolai to discuss her law review article, Out of the Closet, in on Bail . In the article, Deborah details the systemic issues within the bail system, especially as they relate to LGBTQ+ individuals. She explores how pretrial detention disproportionately impacts queer and trans people and how Public Defenders can help get their clients the individualized...

Today, Hunter was joined by Salil Dudani and Carson White from the Civil Rights Corps. Since they were founded, the Civil Rights Corps has been one of the leaders in the fight to end cash bail. Today, Carson and Salil joined to explain the recent California Supreme Court Case,  In re Gerald Kowalczyk , and what it means for the fight against cash bail.       Guest: Carson White, Supervising Attorn...

Today, Hunter was joined by John Haried a career prosecutor in the Department of Justice. After more than 30 years with the Department, John walked away after seeing the abuses in under the Second Trump Administration. Today, he joined the show to help us understand why he left.   Guest: John Haried, Former Director of Electronic Litigation, Department of Justice   Resource:   Contact Hunter Parne...

Today, Hunter was joined by Maggie Shepard and Bob McGovern. Bob and Maggie serve as communications directors for Public Defender agencies, and they joined to discuss how they are helping Public Defenders better engage with the media.   Guest: Maggie Shepard, Director of Communications, Law Offices of the Public Defender, New Mexico Bob McGovern, Director of Communications and Special Counsel, Com...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Eric Tindal, a criminal defense lawyer in Iowa. He joined to explain issues Public Defenders in Iowa are facing. While the contract system is on the verge of breaking, the Public Defenders secured a major win for the right to stand up against excessive workloads. With the challenges the system faces, the two discuss if new tough on crime polices will be the s...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Alex Kornya. In this episode, Alex and Hunter discuss a range of topics including court fines and fees in Iowa and how to pass policies that stop local governments from co-operating with federal immigration enforcement.   Guest: Alex Kornya, Litigation Director, Legal Aid Justice Center, Virginia     Resource: No Immigration Fines https://noimmigrationfines.o...

Today, Hunter was joined by Nate Crippes of the Disability Law Center in Utah. Nate joined to discuss the proposed 1,300 bed homeless camp that might be built outside of Salt Lake City. Hunter and Nate discussed why this is happening, the danger it poses to the homeless community of Salt Lake City, and what Public Defenders can do to better represent those who are homeless or who have disabilities...

Today, Hunter was joined by Angela Chang and Sean Vicente of the Hamilton County, Ohio Public Defender Office. They joined the show to explain how they, along with their community, are fighting to hold police and prosecutors accountable for their unethical and illegal actions.   Guest: Angela Chang, Youth Defense Director, Hamilton County Public Defender, Ohio Sean Vicente, Municipal Director, Ham...

Today, Hunter was joined by Colorado State Senator Julie Gonzales. Senator Gonzales was instrumental in shaping Colorado's progressive immigration policies. She is running against Senator John Hickenlooper in the Democratic primary for Colorado's Senate seat. Julie hopes that she will be able to bring her progressive politics to D.C. so she can challenge the status quo.   Guest: Julie Gonzales, Co...

Today, Hunter was joined by long time criminal defense lawyer Jim Castle. Jim is here to help people understand the legal ethics related to workload limits and to explain where the Office of the State Public Defender gets these ethics wrong.   Guest: Jim Castle, Criminal Defense Lawyer, Colorado   Resource: Google Drive with Relevant Documents  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1NVuuL9L6BUH8x...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Travis Weiner, the former Colorado Public Defender who is suing the Colorado Public Defender System. On a previous episode, Travis detailed that he sued the state because he believed that OSPD retaliated against him for trying to do something about his unethical workloads. Today, Travis joins to discuss the most recent substantive hearing in his case to discu...

Today, Hunter shared the results of unfair labor complaint against the Colorado State Public Defender system.   Guest:   Resource: Google Drive with Relevant Documents  https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1poeBD8pjrxLaMDTaCgN1lX12n3NKE0h5?usp=drive_link   Contact Hunter Parnell:       Publicdefenseless@gmail.com   Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter                                      ...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Jenny Andrews and for the first time Matthew Thiese and Sarah McCarthay. As was the case on Tuesday, this episode is a continued discussion about the National Public Defender Well-Being Study. This time, the focus is on the upcoming phase two that people can participate in starting June 1.       Guest:   Jenny Andrews, Director, Be Sustained   Matthew These P...

Today, Hunter was joined by Aaron Gottlieb and Melissa Mahabir to discuss how excessive workloads drive worse outcomes for the people public defenders work for. Guest: Aaron Gottlieb, Associate Professor, University of Chicago Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy and Practice Melissa Mahabir, Social Worker and Former Mitigation Specialist Resource: Read the Article Here https://www.journals....

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Jenny Andrews and for the first time Professor Jon Jachimowicz. Over the past year, Jenny, Jon, and the amazing team working with Be Sustained have been conducting a study about Public Defender Well Being. This episode details the findings from phase one of that study.   Guest: Jenny Andrews, Director, Be Sustained Jon Jachimowicz, Assistant Professor, Harvar...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Jane Fox and for the first time Alexi Shalom. These two have been working tirelessly to develop programs that can help members of their union deal with crushing student debt. Today, these two join to explain those programs and what else Public Defender leaders can do to help their people with student debt.       Guest: Jane Fox, Legal Aid Society and Unit Cha...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Dan Hinkel. Dan is an investigative journalist with Injustice Watch, and today, he joined the show to talk about the third instalment of his series called "Denying Innocence." This series details how the new Cook County State Attorney, Eileen O'Neil Burke has changed how her office handles wrongful convictions. This episode is about how Burke's office is now...

Today, Hunter was joined by David Seligman, a civil rights, workers' rights, consumers' rights lawyer and candidate for Attorney General in Colorado. David joined the show to discuss why he decided to run and the ambitious plans he has to use the office of the Attorney General to fight for working class Coloradans.       Guest: David Seligman, Candidate for Attorney General, Colorado   Resource: F...

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Professor John Gross. This time, the two discuss a recent article published by John that offers public defenders another strategy to deal with excessive workloads.       Guest: John Gross, Professor of Law, University of Wisconsin   Resources: Read John's Article Here https://www.uclalawreview.org/caseload-transparency-a-new-approach-to-the-ethics-of-excessiv...

Today, Hunter was joined by five former public defenders, all running for a judicial position in Multnomah County, Oregon. Hunter and the candidates discuss how they view the role of a judge to solve various issues that might come before the court.       Guest: Kristine Almquist, Full Time Judicial Officer, Candidate for Judicial Position 14, Multnomah County, Oregon Peter Klym, Deputy Public Defe...