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What do the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, zt”l, and the Chabad Chassidic movement have to do with criminal justice reform?  Find out in the latest episode of the JustPod, with our guest, Rabbi Yossi Bryski, the Director of Alternative Sentencing at the Aleph Institute. 

Aleph was founded in 1981 at the Rebbe’s direction, and for over 40 years since, has served individuals of all backgrounds and faiths in prison programs, reentry programs, alternative sentencing programs, and in advocacy, while providing services for the families of inmates, including summer camps for the children of inmates.

Rabbi Bryski and his team work with defense counsel to craft alternative sentencing proposals for offenders.  And as a result of their work, federal and state courts across the country have accepted Aleph’s creative alternative sentencing proposals.  You’re just a click away from stories and experiences that are both heartwarming and inspiring.

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Please join co-hosts Joe Whitley and Nina Marino for an insightful discussion with our distinguished guest, Susan Bozorgi.

Susan started her impressive career in the public defender’s office in Miami where she found her calling opposing the government in representing people accused of crime. She tried hundreds of jury trials which honed her skills as a formidable trial attorney.

Susan is the founder of Bozorgi Law PLLC based in Miami. She is known for her persistence and perseverance and regularly wins cases that objectively have little chance of success. She is also a champion of women as her blog “Women Criminal Defense Attorneys” highlights the successes of women in the criminal justice space, and she is a leader in the Women White Collar Defense Association, the global premiere women white collar defense organization.

Susan’s passion for her work shines through in this interview. She is nothing short of a trailblazer for young lawyers and an inspiration for all, as she has broken barriers and torn down ceilings and achieved significant success and respect.

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Gianna Toboni’s book, The Volunteer: The Failure of the Death Penalty in America and One Inmate’s Quest to Die with Dignity, is a morally provocative chronicle about Scott Dozier, a former Army Ranger, who was sentenced to death, and “volunteered” for the death penalty.  Dozier had been convicted of murder, sentenced to death, and ultimately demanded the state enforce its own penalty.  

What unfolds in Toboni’s book is a story not just about death, but also about the bureaucratic, moral, and psychological theater that surrounds it.  As the book makes clear, Dozier was not a hero or a martyr.  Nonetheless, in Dozier’s story Toboni has put a magnifying glass on the contradictions of a system that claims to value life, even while enforcing the ultimate penalty, death.  

Toboni is an Emmy-award winning journalist and documentary film maker.  The Volunteer, her debut book, was published by Simon and Schuster in April 2025.  We’re grateful she included the JustPod among other notable stops (including The Daily Show and Comedy Central!) on her first book tour.

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It was a pleasure to welcome Leonard Ambrose to the JustPod to discuss his representation of the notorious defendant Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong.  Ambrose obtained an acquittal of Armstrong after she shot her boyfriend six times as he lay on a couch in 1984.  But Armstrong is possibly more well known for her eventual murder conviction in the bizarre Pizza Bomber case in Erie, Pennsylvania—the subject of the Netflix series “Evil Genius.”  That case arose from the August 28, 2003 robbery of a bank in Erie Township by Brian Wells, a pizza delivery man.  What made the robbery so unusual, and so macabre, was the locked collar around Mr. Wells’ neck when he entered the bank.  The collar contained a ticking time bomb that, after a standoff with Pennsylvania law enforcement, exploded, resulting in Mr. Wells’ death.  Armstrong was sentenced to life imprisonment, plus 30 years, and died in prison in 2017 of natural causes—unlike her victims.

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What was it like to defend clients in prosecutions arising out of events at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021?  A discussion with defense counsel Rocco Cipparone and Angie Levy.

Following the events at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021, the federal government initiated one of the largest investigations and prosecutions in American history, ultimately charging nearly 1,600 defendants.  Those charges resulted in about 1,270 convictions (most, for misdemeanor offenses).  

Upon entering Office on January 21, 2025, President Trump fulfilled a campaign promise in granting clemency to these defendants—pardoning or commuting the sentences of those convicted, and ordering the dismissal, by the U.S. Department of Justice, of remaining pending cases.  

We had the opportunity to talk with two guests who had a front-row seat to the January 6 prosecutions, through their representation of clients in January 6 trials held in federal court in Washington, D.C.  Rocco Cipparone and Angie Levy are two well-regarded and respected members of the Philadelphia and New Jersey criminal defense communities, and recognized as terrific trial lawyers.  It was a great pleasure to have them with us to discuss the January 6 prosecutions.

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In Philadelphia, a city known for great trial lawyers, our next guest stands out among them.  Brian McMonagle began his career in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office where in his twenties he became one of the youngest lawyers to prosecute high profile cases in the DA’s Homicide Unit.  Since then, Brian has gone on to represent actor Bill Cosby in a criminal trial, musical artist Meek Mill on a controversial probation violation proceeding, and other high-profile clients—among them athletes, politicians, physicians, movie and television personalities, judges, prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and CEOs.  And with all this, as you’ll hear in the great discussion we had with him, Brian has not lost his Philly roots, or the common touch.

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Please join co-hosts Joe Whitley and Nina Marino for an insightful discussion with our distinguished guest, Karen Popp. 

Karen, a partner at Sidley Austin, is a highly regarded and well-known leader in the field of white collar defense, internal investigations, crisis management, and compliance. Before joining Sidley, Karen served as Associate White House Counsel to the President of the United States, where she advised President Clinton and the White House staff on congressional and grand jury investigations and domestic policy issues. 

Prior to joining the White House, Karen served in the Office of Legal Counsel at the U.S. Department of Justice where she advised Attorney General Janet Reno and the Department, the White House and other agencies of the executive branch on a wide range of legal matters. 

Before moving to Washington, D.C., Karen was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York. Karen is also the co-founder and global chair of the Women’s White Collar Defense Association (WWCDA).

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We are pleased to share with you our latest podcast with the Honorable Larry D. Thompson.  

Thompson has had extensive leadership experience in both the private and public sectors.  He served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia (1981-1986) and led major political corruption and drug trafficking prosecutions during his tenure at the Department.  Thompson also led the Southern Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force.  

In 1995, he was named independent counsel for the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  In 2000, Thompson was selected by Congress to chair the bi-partisan Judicial Review Commission on Foreign Asset Control.  In 2001, Thompson was confirmed by the Senate as Deputy Attorney General of the United States.  And in 2002, Thompson led the National Security Coordination Counsel at the Department of Justice.  

Thompson was also General Counsel for PepsiCo and was founding co-chair of King & Spalding's special matters and government investigations practice.  Mr. Thompson recently published a book "Quiet Counsel."

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This segment of “White Collar Talks with Nina and Joe” features former United States Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina, Dena King.  Guest co-host is Lynsey Barron.

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On the morning of July 19, 2014, Florida State University Law Professor Dan Markel—a friend and mentor to Justin, and to so many others—was shot and killed in his driveway in Tallahassee, Florida.  Dan was 41 years old, and the father of two little boys, ages 4 and 3, one of whom was just days away from his next birthday.  

The loss of Dan to his family, his friends, and colleagues, is incalculable.  Dan’s Mom, Ruth, graciously shared her time to discuss Dan’s tragic death, her transition from grief to advocacy, the remarkable police work leading to the arrests of Dan’s former brother-in-law, and others, and the convictions resulting in life sentences of several coconspirators.  Dan was a wonderful person, a brilliant scholar—ironically, focusing on justice and punishment—and is greatly missed by all who knew and loved him.  We are honored to dedicate this episode of the JustPod in Dan’s memory.

Link to "Justice for Dan"