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

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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

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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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Today, Hunter was joined by Nat Jacob, Elizabeth Mustin, and Rachel Cortez to discuss new efforts by the Washington to recruit and retain Public Defenders.

Guest

Nat Jacob, Recruitment and Retention Managing Attorney Western Washington, Washington Office of Public Defense

Rachel Cortez, Recruitment and Retention Managing Attorney Eastern Washington, Washington Office of Public Defense

Elizabeth Mustin, Supervising Attorney, Youth Criminal Defense Project, Washington Office of Public Defense

Resources:

WA PD

https://opd.wa.gov/

Fellowship

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&feature=shared&v=g5QiPP3PEfo

https://opd.wa.gov/recruitment-and-retention

https://opd.wa.gov/recruitment-and-retention/rural-public-defense-fellowship

Emails

[email protected]

[email protected]

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Today, Hunter was joined by federal public defender Amanda Bass Castro Alves to discuss the wrongful conviction of Tremane Wood. In 2004, Tremane was convicted of felony murder and sentenced to death in the State of Oklahoma. Just after that, his brother, who admitted to pulling the trigger and who stated Tremane was not responsible for the death, was given a life sentence just after Tremane’s trial. So how is it that a person who did not kill anyone ended up on death row? All that and more on today’s episode.

Guest

Amanda Bass Castro Alves, Assistant Federal Public Defender, District of Arizona  

Resources:

More About Tremane’s Case

https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/stories/deeply-rooted-oklahoma-case-spotlight-tremane-wood

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/death-row-felony-murder-oklahoma_n_67094c44e4b0f3da6456d60c

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/oklahoma-sets-execution-tremane-wood_n_684afd19e4b0d6fb6cd8eabe

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                

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Today, Hunter was joined once again by Erica Nichols Cook, the head of the Iowa State Public Defender Wrongful Conviction Unit. On today’s episode, Erica walks us through the case of Jerry Mark. In 1976, he was convicted of the murder of his brother, sister-in-law and their two children, but as you will hear, all the evidence points to the fact that Jerry Mark wasn’t even in the state when the murder happened.  

Guest

Erica Nichols Cook, Director, Wrongful Convictions Unit, Iowa State Public Defender

Resources:

More About Jerry’s Case

https://www.iowapublicradio.org/ipr-news/2024-11-19/jerry-mark-seeks-exoneration-for-murders-halloween-1975-cedar-falls

Contact Erica

https://www.drake.edu/law/clinics-centers/clinic/wrongfulconvictionsclinic/

https://www.facebook.com/enicholscook/

Send Jerry a Letter

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Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Megan Walsh and Anthony Benz from the University of Minnesota. As we did on Tuesday, Hunter sat down with these two to highlight the work of a law school clinic. This clinic focuses on combating gun violence through both offensive and defensive litigation.

Guest

Megan Walsh, Director, Gun Violence Prevention Clinic, University of Minnesota

Anthon Benz, Student Attorney, University of Minnesota

Resources:

Contact Megan

https://law.umn.edu/course/7408/spring-2023/gun-violence-prevention-clinic/walsh-megan

https://bsky.app/profile/meganwalshgvp.bsky.social

Jacob Charles Article

https://firearmslaw.duke.edu/assets/the-dead-hand-of-a-silent-past_-bruen-gun-rights-and-the-shackl.pdf

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Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Megan Graham to discuss how her law an technology clinic is helping Public Defenders deal with technology issues in their client’s cases.

Guest

Megan Graham, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Director of Technology Law Clinic, University of Iowa College of Law

Resources:

Contact Megan

https://law.uiowa.edu/people/megan-graham

https://bsky.app/profile/megankgraham.bsky.social

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                

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Today, Hunter was joined by Co-Founders and Co-Executive Directors of Unchained Emily Napier-Singletary and Derek Singletary. Unchained is a non-profit organization based out of New York that seeks to “empower those currently and formerly incarcerated in the state of New York through policy development, community organizing and advocacy, research, and liberation education.” On today’s episode, Derek and Emily discuss what happened both inside and outside of New York prisons during the New York Correctional Officer Illegal Wild Cat Strike.  

Guest

Emily Napier Singletary, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Unchained

Derek Singletary, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, Unchained

Resources:

Unchained’s Work

https://www.weareunchained.org/

Murder of Robert Brooks

https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/05/us/robert-brooks-beating-security-guard-plea

https://cnycentral.com/news/local/this-is-whats-next-after-eight-former-cos-rejects-offers-in-robert-brooks-death-case-oneida-county-court-murder-manslaughter-inmate-marcy-correctional-facility

https://13wham.com/news/local/former-correction-officers-return-to-court-now-facing-trial-for-inmates-death-robert-brooks-marcy-correctional-prison-new-york-crime-murder-beating-case-national-charges-officers-video-bodycam-attorney-general-governor-

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/murder-charges-announced-death-robert-brooks-man-beaten-new-york-corre-rcna193019

https://theappeal.org/robert-brooks-murder-new-york-prisons-racism-brutality/

Illegal Wild Cat Strike

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-york-fires-2000-prison-guards-refuse-return-work-wildcat-strike-rcna195765

https://www.wkbw.com/news/i-team/low-staffing-levels-535-new-york-state-corrections-officers-resign-during-after-wildcat-strike

https://prisonjournalismproject.org/2025/03/10/what-was-the-ny-wildcat-strike-like-for-incarcerated-people/

HALT Act

https://www.albanylaw.edu/government-law-center/explaining-the-halt-act

https://ig.ny.gov/system/files/documents/2024/08/nys-oig-doccs-halt-report-8.5.24.pdf

https://nysba.org/the-halt-act-and-solitary-confinement-in-new-york-state/?srsltid=AfmBOors7C8DaJYbPV9NWj-2lue3qO4vIgnoW145V5NDdkTAz6_OYCQ1

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Today, Hunter was joined by investigative journalist Anat Rubin to discuss her recent reporting on Public Defender Investigators in California. At times, investigators are the single most important person in a criminal defense case, and yet around the country, nearly all public defenders do not have access to necessary investigative resources. Today, Anat joins the show to discuss how the systemic underfunding of public defense investigators increases the risk of wrongful convictions by highlighting the story of an investigator who unsolved a murder.

Guest

Anat Rubin, Investigative Journalist, CalMatters

Resources:

Anat’s Reporting

https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators-takeaways/

https://calmatters.org/investigation/2025/06/public-defense-investigators/

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                

[email protected] 

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@PDefenselessPod

www.publicdefenseless.com 

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