Today, Hunter is joined by Kathrina “Kasia” Szymborski Wolfkot from the Brennan Center for Justice. On today’s episode, Hunter and Kasia explore a rare area for hope on the show: State Courts. While much of the focus of teaching and discussion about our legal system starts and ends with the Supreme Court, state courts offer a path to meaningful, major changes to our criminal and constitutional legal systems.  

Guests: Kathrina (Kasia) Szymborski Wolfkot, Senior Counsel, Brenan Center for Justice, Managing Editor of the State Court Report

Resources:

Commonweatth v Mattis

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703895.html

New Yorker on State Supreme Courts

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/06/10/can-state-supreme-courts-preserve-or-expand-rights

State Court Report

https://statecourtreport.org/

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 Today, Hunter is joined by the Sixth Amendment Center’s Deputy Director Aditi Goel. This time, Hunter and Aditi the Sixth Amendment Center’s newest report on the state of Public Defense on the island of Guam. Relative to Public Defense systems in the continental United States, Guam’s Public Defender system is in its infancy, but the problems are familiar. Lack of independence, lack of lawyers, and an Attorney General who thinks better Public Defense=more crime all create a system that is in desperate need of help. Fortunately, the Public Defender Community on the island are deeply committed to getting Guam’s Public Defender system to where it needs to be.

Guests: Aditi Goel, Deputy Director, Sixth Amendment Center

Resources:

Sixth Amendment Center Report on Guam

https://6ac.org/guam-report-finds-undue-judicial-influence-over-indigent-defense/

Guam AG comments

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/excellent-way-to-promote-crime-ag-opposes-public-defender-raises/article_c7900544-a83a-11ed-85d5-e35c64218b11.html

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Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!

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 Today, Hunter is joined by professor Samantha Simon, an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona. This episode is a deep dive into Professor Simon’s book, Before the Badge: How the Academy Training Shapes Police Violence. In it, Professor Simon embed herself into various police academy training programs to try and understand how police academies select, train, and prepare the next generation of police officers. Through her work, we gain an excellent insight into the challenges with changing the culture of violence that is so prevalent in American policing.

Guests: Samantha Simon PhD, Professor of Sociology, University of Arizona

Resources:

Professor Simon’s Faculty Page

https://sociology.arizona.edu/person/samantha-simon

Pick up a Copy of Before the Badge

https://nyupress.org/9781479813278/before-the-badge/

Coverage of SrA Roger Fortson

https://weartv.com/news/local/okaloosa-county-community-rallies-for-justice-at-town-hall-after-sra-fortsons-shooting

https://weartv.com/news/local/hurlburt-field-airman-identified-as-man-shot-dead-in-officer-involved-shooting#

https://weartv.com/news/local/okaloosa-county-sheriffs-office-fires-deputy-involved-in-fatal-air-force-airman-shooting#

 Donate to SrA Roger Fortson's GoFundMe

https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-roger-fortsons-family?utm_campaign=p_lico+share-sheet-first-launch&utm_medium=copy_link&utm_source=customer&fbclid=IwY2xjawEozoVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHcJZA1zzyqnX9Gj0dRPFSA-dHsXjCSwYo7rgUtqYxhV5ht-z5vqGwvKqUg_aem_vERgrg-mtU7gJj4lZ281cw

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 Today, Hunter is joined by Jim Billings, the Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services. At the very start of the show, Hunter spoke with then Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Indigent Legal Services, Justin Andrus, to discuss the problems facing Maine Public Defense. As a reminder, Maine was the only state that relied 100% on contract lawyers and no full time public defense offices. Since then, the crisis has only worsened. There are hundreds of people currently without counsel, and while the long term outlook looks promising, the short to medium term outlook face serious problems.

Guests: Jim Billings, Executive Director, Maine Commission on Public Defense Services

Resources:

Maine Unrepresented Crisis

https://www.aclumaine.org/en/mainesgrowingcrisis

Man released after bail lowered due to lack of Public Defenders

https://www.necn.com/news/local/shortage-of-public-defenders-in-maine-allowed-release-of-man-who-caused-fiery-standoff/3261950/

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 Today, Hunter is joined by University of Utah law Professor, Matthew Tokson, to discuss his most recent law review article The Reality of the Good Faith Exception. For those unfamiliar with it, the good faith exception is a way that the courts have side stepped unconstitutional actions by police and prosecutors. Specifically, if a cop executes a search, but it later turns out that it was based on an illegal warrant, that will not matter so long as the officer acted in good faith. How can we so easily excuse violations of the Constitution and what does it mean for our right to privacy? The answers to those questions and more are found on this episode!

Guests: Matthew Tokson, Professor of Law, University of Utah

Resources:

US v Leon

https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/468/897/

The Reality of the Good Faith Exception Article

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4414248

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Today, Hunter spoke once again with Radley Balko, a long-time investigative journalist, to discus his most recent reporting on public defense in Florida and Georgia. As has been discussed on the show previously, both states are struggling to meet the promises of Gideon. For Florida, the state has continued to move in a “tough on crime” direction and seems fine with leaving public defense ill equipped to handle the cases. In Georgia, the lack of independence leaves the system unable to properly advocate for its needs and the needs of their clients.

Guests:

Radley Balko, Investigative Journalist

Resources:

Read Radley’s Coverage Here

https://radleybalko.substack.com/p/the-states-of-indigent-defense-part-6eb

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            

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 *As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*

Today, Hunter spoke with the Chief Federal Public Defender for the District of Kansas to discuss independence, or the lack thereof, for federal public defenders. Unlike many state systems, the federal system is at the mercy of the federal judiciary. As a result of this judicial oversight, the federal public defenders can be hesitant to be as vocal and aggressive in their public advocacy. Over the past year, the hiring freeze for federal public defense demonstrated the pressing need to remove the federal public defenders out from the control of the bench.

Guests:

Melody Brannon, Chief Federal Public Defender, District of Kansas

Resources:

Annual Federal Defenders Reports

https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/defender-services-annual-report-2022

https://www.uscourts.gov/statistics-reports/defender-services-annual-report-2023

NACDL Coverage on Lack of Independence

https://www.nacdl.org/Article/August2015-InsideNACDLAFundamentalFlawint

2017 REPORT OF THE AD HOC COMMITTEE TO REVIEW THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE ACT

https://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/2017_report_of_the_ad_hoc_committee_to_review_the_criminal_justice_act-revised_2811.9.17.29_0.pdf

NACDL Testimony to Judicial Conference

https://www.nacdl.org/getattachment/84b11595-12a0-43d9-89ed-6af4fd732d84/gerry-morris-testimony.pdf

Hiring Freeze

https://rollcall.com/2023/10/13/federal-public-defenders-warn-proposed-funding-would-cause-layoffs-court-delays/

Eval of Interim Recommendations from the Cardone Report

https://cjastudy.fd.org/sites/default/files/Evaluation-of-the-Interim-Recommendations-from-the-Cardone-Report_9.7.23_NoID.pdf

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 *As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*

Today, Hunter spoke once again w/Bob Kolstad and for the first time Veronica Surges. Both are public defenders in the state of Minnesota, and they joined the show to discuss how the organized a strike authorization and how that threat of a strike helped them secure the largest pay raises in the history of Minnesota Public Defense.

Guests:

Bob Kolstad, Public Defender, Hennepin County, Minnesota

Veronica Surges, Public Defender, 6th District, Minnesota

Resources:

Contact Bob

[email protected]

Read About the Strike Threat and It’s Results

https://minnesotareformer.com/2023/07/11/minnesota-public-defenders-to-get-as-much-as-66000-raises-under-tentative-agreement/#:~:text=The%20salary%20of%20a%20first,state%20Board%20of%20Public%20Defense.

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 *As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*

Today, Hunter kicks off a week about Public Defense in Minnesota by speaking with the Chief Public Defender of the State, Bill Ward. Throughout this episode, Bill and Hunter discuss workloads, workload refusal, the recent budgetary victories he’s helped secure, and what is needed to ensure Public Defenders in Minnesota are not drowning in cases.

Guests:

Bill Ward, Chief Public Defender, Minnesota

Resources:

Minnesota Public Defender Website

https://www.pubdef.state.mn.us/

Minnesota Public Defender Twitter

https://x.com/mnbdpubdefense

Bill Ward Linkedin

https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-ward-a0aa4024/?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.pubdef.state.mn.us%2F

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 *As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*

Today, Hunter is joined by long time Capital Defender, Sharon Turlington. Today, the two discuss cases that bookended Sharon’s career in Missouri. Both cases involved an in the weeds evidentiary rule that prohibits testimony that points to the guilt of a person who is not on trial. In one of her earliest cases, this rule kept the jury from hearing that a third party ADMITTED TO COMMITING THE CRIME IN QUESITON. In her last case, it kept the jury from hearing that FIVE people pointed to another person who had far more evidence pointing his direction. Together with the episodes from the past two days, this episode highlights the many ways the deck is stacked against criminal defendants.

Guests:

Sharon Turlington, Long Time Capital Public Defender, Missouri

Resources:

The Cases

State v Malik Nettles ED74494 (1999)

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/mo-court-of-appeals/1163320.html

State v Kylr Yust WD84633 (2023)

https://law.justia.com/cases/missouri/court-of-appeals/2023/wd84633.html

Contact Sharon

[email protected]

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            

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 *As a reminder, any statements made on the show do not reflect the views or policies of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*