Today, Hunter was joined once again by Sharone Mitchell Jr. and Sharlyn Grace of the Cook County Public Defender Office. As we have already seen in Los Angeles and D.C., President Trump is threatening to deploy the national guard to Chicago to combat “crime.” Today, Sharone and Sharlyn joined the show to discuss what is actually happening on the ground in Chicago, what the city needs to continue improving public safety, and what Trump’s threats are actually about.

Guest:

Sharone Mitchell Jr., Chief Public Defender, Cook County, Chicago, Illinois

Sharlyn Grace, Deputy Public Defender for Policy, Cook County, Chicago, Illinois

Resources:

Liberals and Centrists Biting Off on the Crime Issue

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/bowser-trump-police-takeover-lower-dc-crime-national-guard-ice-rcna227582

Reports on Cash Bail

https://loyolaccj.org/pretrial-fairness-act

https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/research-reports/bail-reform-and-public-safety

https://reason.org/wp-content/uploads/the-effects-of-cash-bail-on-crime-and-court-appearances.pdf

Crime in Chicago

https://counciloncj.org/crime-trends-in-u-s-cities-mid-year-2025-update/

https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/vrd/home/violence-victimization.html

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Today, Hunter was joined once again by Professor Eve Primus. This time, Eve joined the show to discuss her newest law review article “Burdens of Proof in Criminal Procedure.” At first glance, this might seem like a boring, technical legal topic, but the burden of proof is often the only thing that matters in a criminal trial. As Eve points out, the entire case can hinge on who has to prove what and when they have to prove it.

Guest:

Eve Primus, Professor of Law, University of Michigan School of Law

Resources:

Read Eve’s Work

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5136879Amanda’s Faculty Page

Contact Eve

https://michigan.law.umich.edu/faculty-and-scholarship/our-faculty/eve-brensike-primus

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Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Amanda Savage to discuss her latest law review article “The Pseudoscience of Gun Hunting”.  In the article, Amanda explains the cop created “Characteristics of an Armed Person” training that cops undergo to identify who may or may not have a weapon. As with many cop created “sciences,” CAP is the perfect tool for police to use if they want to stop, search, and frisk someone for any reason or no reason at all.

Guest:

Amanda Savage, Professor of Law, Denver University School of Law

Resources:

Read Amanda’s Work

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5148151

Amanda’s Faculty Page

https://www.law.du.edu/about/people/amanda-savage

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Today, Hunter was Renae Alt-Summers and Mekka Jeffers-Nelson to discuss the payment stoppage for Criminal Justice Act Panel Attorneys. Just like state public defender systems, the federal public defender system relies on private defense counsel to take conflict cases and serve as the primary way to deliver public defender services. Yet as of the start of July, those CJA panel attorneys have had payments stopped, and those payments aren’t set to come back online until at least October. So, what will happen to the federal public defender system now and in the future?

Guest:

Renae Alt-Summers, CJA Panel Rep, Federal District of South Carolina

Mekka Jeffers-Nelson, CJA Panel Rep, Federal District of Western North Carolina

Resources:

Contact Renae and Mekka

[email protected]

[email protected]

Read More About the Freeze

https://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judiciary-news/2025/07/15/funding-crisis-leaves-defense-lawyers-working-without-pay

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/defense-lawyers-needy-clients-congressional-funds-dry-up/

https://www.abajournal.com/news/article/federal-defender-program-will-run-out-of-funds-to-pay-panel-attorneys-court-officials-warn

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/defense-lawyers-face-months-without-pay-as-federal-funds-dry-up

https://www.wacdl.org/blog_home.asp?Display=14

https://www.fd.org/news/funding-crisis-leaves-defense-lawyers-working-without-pay

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Today, Hunter was joined once again by Grant Miller, Salt Lake City Public Defender and Representative of Utah’s 24th House District. Last time that he was on the show, Grant was running for office. Now, Grant joins to discuss how his first legislative session went. From passing a bill to reduce fines and fees to helping ensure the Overton window didn’t shift too far to tough on crime side, Grant gives us a reason to be optimistic even when we hold minimal political power.

Guest:

Grant Miller, Public Defender and Utah House Representative, Salt Lake City, House District 24

Resources:

Contact Grant

https://www.grantmillerforhouse24.com/

https://www.instagram.com/grantistheguy/?hl=en

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Today, Hunter was joined by Crystal Leff-Piñon, Director of TIDC’s family protection representation unit. On Tuesday, Hunter and Scott Ehlers discussed the funding problem and attorney shortages leading to a slow moving crisis in rural Texas. Today, Crystal joins to share how similar the issues are for family defense throughout the state of Texas.

Guest:

Crystal Leff-Piñon, Director, Family Protection Representation, Texas Indigent Defense Commission

Resources:

TIDC Website:

https://www.tidc.texas.gov/about-us/who-we-are/staff/ehlers-scott/

Contact Crystal

[email protected]

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Today, Hunter was joined once again the Texas Indigent Defense Commission Executive Director, Scott Ehlers. This time, Scott and Hunter explore a slow moving crisis in Texas Public Defense: an absolute lack of attorneys in rural parts of the state. As with so many states with large rural areas, attorneys are retiring faster than they can be replaced. Scott and his team at TIDC tried to get more funding from the legislature, but as it stands now, the legislature does not seem to be taking this issue as seriously as they should. So what will happen to public defense in rural Texas?

Guest:

Scott Ehlers, Executive Director, Texas Indigent Defense Commission  

Resources:

TIDC Website:

https://www.tidc.texas.gov/about-us/who-we-are/staff/ehlers-scott/

Contact Scott

[email protected]

Read more about Problems in Rural Public Defense  

https://ppri.tamu.edu/portfolio-items/justice-beyond-the-cities/

https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/27/texas-rural-public-defense-indigent/

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Today, Hunter was joined once again by the Executive Director of North Dakota’s Commission of Legal Counsel for the Indigent, Travis Fink. Last time, Travis joined the show to detail a bleak outlook for public defense in the state. Not enough attorneys in both the contract and full-time systems, inadequate pay, and crushing workloads left Travis with little choice. He drafted up a letter preparing to tell the courts the public defender would be taking no new cases, but before he could send it out, the legislature threw the system a lifeline.

Guest:

Travis Fink, Executive Director, North Dakota Commission of Legal Counsel for the Indigent

Resources:

Travis Testimony at the Legislature

https://video.ndlegis.gov/en/PowerBrowser/PowerBrowserV2/20250130/-1/32604

Contact the North Dakota Public Defender

https://www.indigents.nd.gov/

North Dakota Public Defender News

https://northdakotamonitor.com/2025/07/07/north-dakota-public-defenders-see-budget-increase-with-new-biennium/

https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-regional/crime-courts/public-defenders-underpaid-overworked-north-dakota-report-says/article_76910028-f819-11ee-a575-8f6da532994a.html

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                

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Today, Hunter was joined once again by New Mexico’s Chief Public Defender, Ben Baur. A few years back, a workload study estimated that New Mexico had 1/3 of the public defenders it needed to meet its workload demands. At that time, the state set out on a five-year plan to address the staffing shortage. Unfortunately, the state has not stuck to the five-year plan. Now, with a shortage of attorneys in rural parts of the state, low pay for contract attorneys, and still too many cases, will the New Mexico public defenders have to stop taking new cases?

Guest:

Ben Baur, Chief Public Defender, New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender

Resources:

Contact the New Mexico Public Defender

https://www.lopdnm.us/offices/

New Mexico Resources

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1nAHtHZaAmu6My2tL04Dn_HlLhy-HARuP?usp=sharing

New Mexico Workload Study

https://www.lopdnm.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/LOPD-Attorney-Workload-Study2.pdf

New Mexico Five Year Plan

https://www.lopdnm.us/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Final-Draft-LOPD-5-Year-Plan.pdf

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                

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Today, Hunter was joined by Dennis Calhoun, Tim Ray Johnson, and Amanda Ulrich to discuss how Washington is helping people who were found not guilty by reason of insanity.

Guest:

Tim Ray Johnson, Criminal Defense Lawyer, Washington

Dennis Calhoun, Student, Washington

Amanda Ulrich, Public Defender Washington

Resources:

WA PD

https://opd.wa.gov/

NGRI

https://opd.wa.gov/forensic-civil-commitment

Email Amdanda and Tim

[email protected]

[email protected] 

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                

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