Public Defenseless

If you spend anytime watching news in the past 3 years, you have likely heard about San Francisco. Normally, that conversation revolves around the state of public safety in the city, and often, it is presented from the perspective of progressive prosecution. Today, Hunter had on Mano Raju, Chief Public Defender of the San Francisco, to give a different perspective on the path forward for public sa...

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...

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 wonder...

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 lawsu...

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-capita...

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...

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 loo...

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...

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 he...

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 t...

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 6 th Amendment. Soon, that right would be extended to a person facing any possibility of confinement, and thus, our modern...

Today, Hunter spoke with David Garlock, a formerly incarcerated and current criminal justice reformer, to discuss how David's journey from victim, to prison, to life after prison has landed him advocating to end sex offender registries. As a child, David endured nearly a decade of child sexual abuse. Eventually, he and his brother sought revenge against the man who committed the acts, and they mad...

On today's episode, Hunter spoke with Jon Lyon, the Investigator Resource Coordinator for the National Association for Public Defense, to talk all things investigator related. As Public Defense is focused on the practice of law, it makes sense that most of our conversations are lawyer centric, but part of the role of this show and of the NAPD is to remind everyone involved in Public Defense that i...

Previously on the show, Hunter spoke with Marea Beeman about the dangerous fines and fees that make "free" attorneys decidedly not "free". Today, Hunter sat down with Priya Sarathy Jones, Deputy Executive Director of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, to do an even deeper dive on the hidden costs that come with any interaction with the legal system. Since the Reagan administration, local communiti...

Taking over a Public Defender System requires one to understand the greatest weaknesses of the system. For TaShun Bowden-Lewis, one of those is a sever lack of outreach from the Connecticut Office of the Public Defender Office. While it will not happen overnight, TaShun hopes that by achieving her three main goals she will be able to transform the state wide system into one that is at the forefron...

After spending 18 years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Anthony Graves hopes he can start a movement of getting more people with experience with the legal system involved in Public Defense. As the Director of Community Outreach for the Harris County Public Defender Office, Anthony is helping to bridge the gap between Public Defenders and the clients they represent. With crushing caseloa...

Normally in criminal law, intent matters. The intent of a person is one of the most critical features in determining how we will punish someone for a crime they committed. Then came the felony murder law. As a result of this law, people committing a felony that resulted in the death of another, no matter how remote that death may have been, were treated the same as someone who acted with the inten...

Today, Hunter spoke with the newest Chief Public Defender for the State of Maryland, Natasha Dartigue. Throughout her career, Natasha worked in every imaginable part of the Maryland Public Defender system. As such, she is acutely aware of the strength, weaknesses, and challenges she will face as she leads the office into the next decade. As with all of the conversations we have with leaders of a s...

For somewhere between a third and a half of indigent people accused of a crime, they will be given either an assigned or contract Public Defender. Today's guest, Professor Eve Primus, argues that we must move away from that contract model of Public Defense. After years of research and writing, Eve is positive of one thing: to ensure everyone accused of a crime who cannot afford an attorney is prov...

For some reason, people forget that long before New York or Illinois ended cash bail, New Jersey successfully eliminated cash bail. As Joseph Krakora shares on today's episode, that initiative came, in part, because Public Defense was valued enough by local politicians to be a major voice in shaping criminal justice reform. With more than a decade as the head of the New Jersey Public Defender Syst...

While the main focus of the podcast is the representation that adults receive in felony and misdemeanor cases, there are countless other areas of law where indigent people need the help of attorneys. There are few states capable of providing the resources and care necessary to create a functioning public defense system for adult representation, so we shouldn't be surprised when things like Juvenil...

In a good faith effort to hold police accountable, states and counties around the country started mandating that police wear body cameras at all times. When they or on or working, they offer a powerful source of evidence at the misconduct of officers. There is just one problem: With Public Defender Offices in crisis around the country, do they actually have the time to review hundreds of hours of...

With the grueling nature of Public Defense work, it takes a special combination of internal and external motivations to navigate a 20+ year career in the field. Today on the show our guest, Andre Vitale, shares with us how he managed the highs and lows of working in Public Defense in three separate states.     When his career started, Andre served as a line defender in the Monroe, County Public De...

When we think of zealous Public Defense, we often think of triumphant victories in the court room, but today's guest wants Public Defenders to realize their greatest victories must come outside of the court room. Joining Hunter today once again is Sam Allison-Natale. He is the Executive Director of the Kansas Holistic Defenders, the only holistic public defender office in the state of Kansas dedic...

Today, Hunter spoke with Diane Lozano, the Wyoming State Public Defender, to discuss how she's been able to secure support for Public Defense in the challenge political landscape of Wyoming. With more than a decade at the helm of the state's public defender system, Diane's use of data and public advocacy has allowed her to maintain support through multiple state Congresses and Gubernatorial admini...