Public Defenseless

Today, Hunter is once again joined by Delaware Chief Public Defender, Kevin O'Connell. Last time, Kevin came on to discuss the uniquely terrible Delaware Law Enforcement Bill of Rights. This time, Hunter and Kevin did a deeper dive into the past, present, and future of Public Defense in the state of Delaware. Of all the important parts of this episode, the journey taken by Delaware Public Defense...

Today, Hunter sat down with a fierce, lifelong advocate for a better system of Youth Justice. Betsy Clarke, the Founder of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, joins the show today to talk about her hope for continuing to improve the youth justice system at the state level. Drawing on decades of work and important lessons from the youth justice systems of other nations, Betsy is an amazing resource fo...

Today, Hunter is once again joined by two amazing advocates from Partners for Justice. Rebecca Solow, Founder and Co-Executive Director, and Vichal Kumar, Director of Capacity Building, join us today to discuss the amazing progress of their partnerships with state and local public defender offices around the country. The best part of these Partners for Justice programs is the way they build the ca...

Today, Hunter is joined by Sean Wilson, the Organizing Director at Dream Corp Justice, to discuss his journey from incarceration to community organizing to driving major criminal legal reforms. After 17 years of incarceration, Sean understood the ways our mass incarceration system fails to help people rehabilitate and re-enter society with the skills they need to thrive. From his local community i...

Today, Hunter sat down with Professor Keramet Reiter to discuss her decades+ research into solitary confinement and the American Prison System. In her immense scholarship, it is easier to say what Keramet has not written about than what she has. With her vast array of American and International solitary confinement practices, she is the perfect guest to explain the problems with solitary confineme...

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 a...

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 pref...

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...

*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...

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, pe...

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 1 st Amendment rights to protest the abuses of police found themselves facing hefty prison time.   Guests: Amelia Power, Criminal Defense Attorney, Colorado     Resources: Media...

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...

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 conv...

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 lev...

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 repres...

Today, Hunter spoke with Michael Garvey and Megan Edge of the ACLU of Alaska to examine the policy history of Alaska that has made it such a pro carceral state. For a brief moment in the mid 2010's, Alaska looked like it would start to turn towards a more rehabilitative model for its criminal legal system. Unfortunately, current Governor Mike Dunleavy had different plans. With his election in 2018...

Part of the goals of this show is to remind Public Defenders that they are not alone in their fight. There is a massive network across the nation of people from all walks of life fighting both in and out of the court room to try and make a more just legal system. Today, Hunter is once again joined by University of Michigan Professor of Law Eve Primus. This time, Hunter and Eve are talking about th...

There may be no Public Defender Union with as long and storied of a history as the New York Legal Aid Society's, and today, Hunter spoke with Chapter Chair of the NY Legal Aid Union, Jane Fox, to discuss the efforts to revitalize that very union. The challenges facing Jane and all Public Defenders in New York City are immense. The crushing criminal caseload is compounded by the cost-of-living cris...

From the limited discovery, limited access to witnesses, and the limited resources, Federal Public Defenders around the country are fighting for their clients at a massive disadvantage. Today, Hunter spoke with two Federal Public Defenders, Colin Prince and Jay McEntire, to try and understand how and why the deck is so heavily stacked against them. Drawing from their experience as corporate civil...

Montana Public Defense has seen a lot in the 21 st century. A lawsuit in the early aughts lead to massive changes and the creation of the state public defender system. Now almost 20 years later, the Montana Public Defense system is still only treading water. Driven by an shortage of attorneys around the state and severe under pay, the system is looking for new, innovative ways to stay afloat. Join...

What can we learn from the successes of other countries? Today, Hunter spoke with Iliana Pujols to compare and contrast the youth criminal legal system where she works in Connecticut and Norway. In particular, we discuss just how far removed from accepted international practices of youth justice, and what needs to be done to break through the American exceptionalism that stops Americans from learn...

As one of the many states without a unified system of Public Defense, the consistency of Public Defense and access to legal services from county to county is wildly inconsistent. Joining Hunter to speak about this justice by geography model is Larry Jefferson, Director of the Office of Public Defense. Despite the name, Larry and his office only hold limited ability to direct and assist in the deli...

Today, Hunter is once again joined by Devin Franklin from the Southern Center for Human Rights to discuss the latest violation of civil liberties in the state of Georgia. Today, they are discussing the recent indictment levied against 61 cop city protesters. As you read over the 100+ page indictment, you will find one consistent theme: the Attorney General of Georgia is doing everything in his pow...

Today, Hunter spoke with President of the National Association for Public Defense's Board of Directors, Cydni Sanchez, to discuss the NAPD's plan to help Public Defenders around the country implement the new National Workload Standards. With her experience in New Mexico, Cydni is expertly situated to dissect the difficulties of making a workload study like this turn into meaningful policy victorie...

Today, Hunter once again sat down with Stephen Hanlon to talk Public Defender Workload Studies. This time, they spoke about the brand new National Workload Standards for Public Defense that are finally out as of today! While it is extremely easy to be pessimistic about the potential for a workload study to lead to meaningful change in Public Defense, this could be a water shed moment. This report...