Today, Hunter spoke with Civil Rights Corps' Attorney Peter Santina to discuss their efforts in uncovering and challenging prosecutorial misconduct. From Alleghany County to San Francisco County, Peter and his team are those leading the charge in revealing the negligence, maleficence, and misconduct of prosecutors around the country. This episode, however, does offer a reminder that all of their actions are enabled by judges, politicians, and legal ethics bodies that sit by and do nothing to hold prosecutors accountable for their actions.

Guests:

Peter Santina, Managing Attorney of the Prosecutorial Accountability Project, Civil Rights Corps

Resources:

To do something about this, and raise awareness of this continuing racial discrimination, CRC worked with our AccountabilityNY professor partners to prepare and file 10 complaints against prosecutors alleging court findings of racial or religious discrimination. CRC also publicized the fact that an attorney for the NYPD union had once been a prosecutor who used a handwritten guide of racist and sexist tropes to select juries, leading to three reversals. Journalists at the Gothamist, The City, Queens Daily Eagle, and Davis Vanguard each wrote original stories about the discrimination complaints. CRC attorney Bina Ahmad appeared on WBAI radio and WNYC radio with Dexter Murray, a man personally victimized by this form of discrimination. Mr. Murray's powerful op-ed ran in the NY Daily News.

In San Francisco, nearly 1,000 people are past their last day for speedy trial, over 100 of whom are incarcerated, awaiting an unknown trial date. In a particular pending case, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office asked the California Supreme Court to intervene and restore people's speedy trial rights. In support of this petition, CRC filed an amicus brief to explain to the justices how the denial of speedy trial rights turns an already-flawed system of plea bargaining into a system of plea begging and unfairly extends the already-oppressive conditions of pretrial detention. CRC await the California Supreme Court's decision.

The prosecutor's choice to pursue or dismiss charges is one of their greatest powers and is ripe for abuse. As over 90 percent of criminal cases resolve by plea bargain, recent reports have exposed the troubling lack of transparency and oversight in this plea bargain system (2020 Vera Institute Report) and that innocent people plead guilty to crimes they did not commit (2023 American Bar Association Task Force Report).

In March 2023, the longtime Allegheny County District Attorney, Stephen Zappala, was in a contentious primary battle for reelection against the Chief Public Defender, who was also running for District Attorney. It was reported that after Zappala did not secure the Democratic Committee's nomination, a supervisor in his office gave line prosecutors instructions that referenced the election. In the following days, two prosecutors were reported to refused to dismiss weak charges, and each prosecutor cited the election—and Zappala's endorsement loss—in their explanation. CRC worked with two legendary professors, David Rudovsky (Penn Carey School of Law) and Jules Lobel (University of Pittsburgh School of Law), to prepare and file an ethics complaint with the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania against Zappala. We included a 2021 incident where Zappala ordered his prosecutors to not offer any plea bargain to clients of a Black defense attorney who had criticized his office. A journalist at the PGH City Paper wrote about the complaint, interviewing Peter.

Civil Rights Corps

https://civilrightscorps.org/

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On previous episodes, we have talked about the importance of data collection and collaboration with outside organizations to turn that data into meaningful talking points for policy change. On today's show, Hunter was joined by three amazing data scientists from SMU's Deason Center, Dr. Andrew Davies, Dr. Victoria Smiegocki, and Shelby Sirivore, to discuss some of their interesting data analysis on Public Defense in Texas. From appointment rates to the impacts of having a institutional public defense, today's guests offer us a glimpse into the insights every state could glean if it only collected the data necessary for people like Andy, Victoria, and Shelby the chance to analyze it.

Guests:

Dr. Andrew Davies, Research Director, SMU Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center

Dr. Victoria Smiegocki, Assistant Research Director, SMU Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center

Shelby Sirivore, Research Project Coordinator

Resources:

SMU Deason Center

https://www.smu.edu/Law/Centers-and-Initiatives/Deason-Center

Texas Eligibility Standards

https://scholar.smu.edu/deasoncenter/8/

Rural Representation in Texas

https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol71/iss2/5/

Qualities of Public Defender Leader

https://smu.box.com/s/x0gjpz6py3wwcvlcdcxc8omnma55n7bd

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On today's show, Hunter sat down with Cameron Blazer, the Circuit Public Defender in Charleston, South Carolina, to discuss the past, present, and future of Public Defense in the state. From the start of the show, Hunter has long wanted to discuss with more detail the South Carolina practice of non-attorneys serving as judges, but there is so much more to this episode than that. In an unusual turn of events, South Carolina has actually started to increase the funding for Public Defense, and in turn, people like Cameron are seizing the opportunity to make meaningful changes to both their practice and the lives of their clients.

Guests:

Cameron Blazer, Circuit Public Defender, 9th Circuit, South Carolina

Resources:

"When Your Judge Isn't a Lawyer"

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/when-your-judge-isnt-a-lawyer/515568

"Lawsuit Challenges Rural Judges without Law Degrees Instructed to Oversee Jury Trials."

http://www.fernleyreporter.com/lawsuit-challenges-rural-judges-without-law-degrees-instructed-to-oversee-jury-trials

"Rush To Judgement: How South Carolina's Summary Courts Fail to Protect Constitutional Rights".

https://www.nacdl.org/getattachment/ab9d6b03-2b45-4235-890e-235461a9bb2d/rush-to-judgment-how-south-carolina-s-summary-courts-fail-to-protect-constitutional-rights.pdf

"Summary Injustice: A Look at Constitutional Deficiencies in South Carolina's Summary Courts"

https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/publications/Summary%20Injustice%20-%20A%20look%20at%20Constitutional%20Deficiencies%20in%20SC%20Summary%20Courts%2C%20ACLU%2C%202016.pdf

"These Judges Can Have Less Training Than Barbers but Still Decide Thousands of Cases Each Year."

https://www.propublica.org/article/these-judges-can-have-less-training-than-barbers-but-still-decide-thousands-of-cases-each-year

After More Than Five Years of Litigation, Lexington County, S.C., Agrees to Dramatically Increase Funding for Indigent Defense

https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/after-more-five-years-litigation-lexington-county-sc-agrees-dramatically-increase

South Carolina Public Defender Commission

https://sccid.sc.gov/

Follow Cameron on Twitter

https://twitter.com/cameronblazer?lang=en

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It's no secret that the Public Defenseless Podcast firmly stands in the "abolish cash bail" camp. On today's episode, Hunter is joined by criminal defense attorney, Katie Yens, to demonstrate yet another reason why the practice must cease to exist. Despite, perhaps, good intentions of judges and prosecutors, the bond laws in Colorado allow for the bail bond industry to enrich themselves off the backs of those that can least afford it. Today's conversation is all about this obscure, but deeply influential practice of bond forfeiture and revocation.

Guests:

Katie Yens, Criminal Defense Attorney, LFM Defense

Resources:

Email Katie

[email protected]

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A little over a year ago, Hunter spoke with Rocky Ramirez about how a simple bit of no-code programming was able to cut down appointment times from nearly a week to less than half a day. Today, Hunter invited Rocky back on the show to discuss the steps he's taken over the past year in Bexar County to find tech solutions for the many issues with Public Defense. While the Managed Assigned Counsel system he operates in is unique, the theme of this episode applies equally to all practitioners of public defense: it is imperative that Public Defenders analyse what policies, procedures, and practices could be made more efficient with simple tech solutions!

Guests:

Rocky Ramirez, Law and Technology Resource Attorney, Bexar County, Texas

Resources:

Email Rocky:

[email protected]

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Today, Hunter spoke with Randy Fiedler and Stacy Newman about the best ways to handle a challenging client. Whether it is due to mental illness, mistrust, or some other external factor, every public defender has at one point in time dealt with a client they would consider challenging. The question is then, what are the skills and best practices to foster the trusting relationship that is necessary to combat the challenges any client may present.

Guests:

Randy Fiedler, Public Defender, Nevada

Stacy Newman, Public Defender, Nevada

Resources:

McCoy v Louisiana

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/16-8255_i4ek.pdf

Autonomy Isn't Everything

https://scholarship.law.cornell.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2770&context=facpub

ABA standards on Mental Health

https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/publications/criminal_justice_standards/mental_health_standards_2016.authcheckdam.pdf

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Today, Hunter spoke with Patrick Crowley, Michael Naughton and Jonathan Sacks to talk through the attorney shortage crisis in rural America and what we can do to reverse the trend. While today's episode focuses a lot on what is happening in rural Michigan, make no mistake, this is a problem facing nearly every state in the country. As rural, small town America has declined over the past decades, it has become harder and harder to entice young public defenders, laden with outrageous student debt, to want to practice in the rural parts of a state. So what can be done? With this conversation, Hunter hopes to spark new conversations and solutions to a problem that is seemingly only getting worse as the years go by.

Guests:

Patrick Crowley, Chief Public Defender, Marquette County, Michigan

Michael Naughton, Attorney and Partner, North Coast Legal, PLC.

Jonathan Sacks, Director, Michigan State Appellate Defender Office

Resources:

Michael's Report on the Issue

https://michiganidc.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/M.-Naughton-Report-Attorney-Shortages.pdf

SADO.org

https://sado.org/

MIDC

https://michiganidc.gov/

Marquette County Public Defender

https://mqtpubdef.org/

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Today, Hunter spoke with Chris "Champ" Napier. When Champ was only four years old when he witnessed his father's murder. By the time he was thirteen, Napier had lived in seven different homes in seven different ghettos. Biologically and socially, he was raised in a pool of piranhas, barbarians, and sharks. At eighteen, Napier was convicted of killing a man and was sent to prison. This memoir narrates Napier's story as he navigates a childhood of poverty in Prichard, Alabama; serves more than a decade and a half in prison; and transforms his life by becoming Muslim and devoting his life to Allah. We were so broke I had to eat dry saltine crackers or ketchup sandwiches with the end parts of the bread and drink sugar water, when we didn't have kool-aid. These times were hard for us. I can recall a lot of times on the weekend that someone from the club or from somewhere would burglarize our house and we would have to play like we were asleep until they left. The only thing they could not steal was a small black and white TV and portable radio.

Guests:

Champ Napier, Client Advocate, Mobile, Alabama

Resources:

Champ Napier Story

https://alabamafairjustice.org/stories-chris-champ-napier

Champ Napier Book

https://www.amazon.com/Poverty-Prison-Frustrations-My-Past/dp/1542983398

Champ's Website

https://chrischampnapier.com/

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Today, Hunter spoke with Latosha Watts and Taneal Behrens to highlight the important role that paralegals and social workers play in a Public Defender Office. To date, we have touched a lot on the need for Public Defender Offices to incorporate more social workers, but we have not had the opportunity to talk about the important role paralegals provide an office. With more than 2 decades of experience between them in the role of paralegal, Latosha and Taneal provided excellent insight on the pathway for public defense to value paralegals and social workers just as much as they value attorneys.

Guests:

Latosha Watts, Paralegal, Chesapeake Public Defender Office, Virginia

Taneal Behrens, Sentencing Specialist, Charleston Public Defender Office, South Carolina

Resources:

Email Latosha

[email protected]

Email Taneal

[email protected]

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Today, Hunter spoke with two law professors, Kay Levine and Russell Gold, to discuss their law review article calling for an increase in the public advocacy of public defenders. As a natural extension of the main goals of the show, Hunter loved exploring the potential political power public defenders could wield if they were more vocal. Interestingly as well, both Kay and Russell offered important juxtapositions between public defenders, prosecutors, and corporate attorneys and the way each engages with public advocacy out of the court room.

Guests:

Kay Levine, Professor of Law, Emory Law School

Russell Gold, Professor of Law, Alabama University School of Law

Resources:

Public Voice of the Defender Law Review Article

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4416723

Kay's Article on the FL Prosecutors

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/white-collar-and-criminal-law/discriminatory-policy-pinned-on-wall-should-shock-all-prosecutors

Kay's Professor Page

https://law.emory.edu/faculty/faculty-profiles/levine-profile.html

Russell Gold Professor Page

https://www.law.ua.edu/directory/People/view/Russell_Gold

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