Santa Clara Public Defender Sajid Khan recently announced he was running for District Attorney. His announcement follows events of a year ago last summer when in response a pointed column by Khan, Santa Clara DA Jeff Rosen threatened to initiate a whistleblower retaliation proceedings against the Santa Clara County Deputy Public Defender. “Santa Clara County needs a true progressive as its District Attorney. I will be that person,” he said. “As District Attorney for all people, I will be committ...
Jul 18, 2021•53 min
Donald Watson was convicted of felony murder but thanks to SB 1437, the law by Nancy Skinner, that allows people convicted of murder who were not the actual killer or major participants to petition for resentencing, Watson was able to get released from prison. During his time in prison, he had become a jailhouse lawyer and helped his fellow incarcerated individuals file motions and petitions. He has parlayed that into a business where he acts as a paralegal, filing motions and helped incarcerate...
Jul 12, 2021•49 min
Silverio Strong spent 32 years incarcerated off and on from the time he was 12. Finally, he got involved in a robbery and attempted murder and received a 20 year sentence. On Everyday Injustice he talks about going from the troubled young man to someone who helps mentor others and has put together a successful life following his release from prison. He is now a spokesperson and board member for Hustle 2.0, a group that is led by formerly incarcerated to help the currently incarcerated, “Hustle 2...
Jul 05, 2021•1 hr 13 min
Earlier this season on Everyday Injustice, we spoke with Flint Taylor who highlighted his years of fighting to expose the Chicago Torture Scandal. We also spoke with former Illinois Governor George Ryan who ended the death penalty in Illinois in part due to the torture scandal. And this week we talk more about the torture scandal and the death row 10 with four guests, two of whom were past survivors of the torture machine by former Police Captain Jon Burge. Three of these men were tortured into ...
Jun 28, 2021•59 min
Prosecutorial misconduct continues to be widespread in the courts across the country. As a report from a decade ago discovered – with over 800 instances of documented prosecutorial misconduct, much of it serious with grave effects, courts, district attorneys, and bar associations “rarely hold prosecutors accountable for their misconduct. In fact, the whole system incentivizes misconduct by using “court wins” to measure prosecutorial success.” Accountability NY is a non-profit coalition of law pr...
Jun 21, 2021•41 min
Last year Assemblymember Ash Kalra authored a landmark bill that addresses racial discrimination in criminal sentencing and convictions. The California Racial Justice Act, which will prohibit racial discrimination in convictions and sentences. The act will prohibit it in all convictions and sentences. It also creates a process to challenge racial bias in trial or following conviction. “California’s Civil Rights law clearly prohibits discrimination in housing, in employment, and public accommodat...
Jun 14, 2021•32 min
When the California Supreme Court ruled in March in the Humphrey decision, that the judges are required to consider a person’s ability to pay when setting their bail amounts, a big question was whether that would lead to more pretrial release or whether judges would simply detain more people without bail, citing a public safety concern. In a new policy brief released in late May by the nonpartisan California Policy Lab, the early results show that when San Francisco was required to set more affo...
Jun 07, 2021•35 min
Sacramento area Attorney Keith Staten, heads up the Sacramento Conflict Counsel joins Everyday Injustice to discuss policing and his reaction to the Chauvin verdict. He also discusses issues in Sacramento, problems with the Community Police Review Commission as well as some of the high profile cases like Joseph Mann and Stephon Clark.
May 31, 2021•45 min
Last week, Larry Krasner who was among the first wave of progressive DA’s to be elected in 2017, won a resounding reelection in the Democratic primary after a former Deputy DA, who he had fired in 2018, attempted to take him down with the help of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP). However, he won with 65 percent of the vote. The primary was widely seen as referendum on whether a wave of prosecutors elected on promises of criminal justice reform – elected on things like bail reform, reducing th...
May 24, 2021•46 min
Cynthia Rodriguez, a retired public defender is running for DA in Yolo County, California - a relatively small county, next to Sacramento and the home of UC Davis. She is taking on four time incumbent Jeff Reisig. In 2018, Reisig narrowly averted defeat when he beat Public Defender Dean Johansson by a very narrow margin. Reisig has recently taken on a reformist tone, though he signed onto the letter by Ann Marie Schubert opposing good time credits that would lead to an early release of incarcera...
May 17, 2021•41 min
On May 6, the Vanguard held a special live webinar featuring LA District Attorney George Gascón and Alameda Public Defender Brendon Woods on Policing and Race in America. Listen as two leaders in criminal justice reform discuss the conviction of Derek Chauvin, what has and has not changed since Rodney King and the future of policing.
May 10, 2021•58 min
La Tasha Williams is running for judge in Dauphin County Pennsylvania. She interned in a public defender’s office and has worked as a prosecutor most recently. According to her campaign page: “I am running to be your next judge on the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas because I am deeply committed to being a positive change agent in our system of justice. If elected, I promise to consistently bring to the courtroom my integrity, compassion, and experience which will ensure that all parties re...
May 03, 2021•40 min
Recent polling by Data for Progress for the Appeal taken between March 5 and March 7 found public opinion since the murder of George Floyd has shifted to support for alternatives to policing and the ways in which communities can reimagine safety outside of armed officers. They found, “As many as half of the individuals killed by law enforcement have a disability; and people with an untreated mental illness are 16 times more likely to be killed during a police encounter. Emergency First Responder...
Apr 26, 2021•47 min
In less than 100 DAs, Manhattan will elect a new DA which would only be the fifth in the last 80 years, replacing four term incumbent Cy Vance. There are a host of progressive candidates vying for the Democratic nomination including Assemblymember Dan Quart. Earlier this month, Dan Quart release his public safety plan and one of his commes was: “We do not have to choose between a fairer and a safer city.” We really have created this kind of false dichotomy - where people have bought into this no...
Apr 21, 2021•37 min
George Ryan was a Republican Governor of Illinois. He started his career as an advocate for the death penalty. But during his time as Governor, between cases of wrongful convictions and a torture scandal in Chicago, he came to the conclusion that the death penalty was flawed and first he put a pause on the death penalty, then he commuted the sentences of everyone on death row to life and ended the death penalty in Illinois. He writes: “I realized that capital punishment was a bad idea, not becau...
Apr 19, 2021•34 min
It was the 80s, and child sex cases and ritual cult cases were the paranoia. As the petitioners put it, at "the time in which the allegations arose - what has been deemed a period of "near hysteria" about child sexual abuse in the United States - the allegations were believed and continued unchecked throughout the prosecution of the three adults." That coupled with faulty science and lack of understanding at the susceptibility of children to tell adults what they wanted to hear led to the wrongf...
Apr 12, 2021•1 hr 18 min
Cy Vance announced he would not seek reelection after four terms as DA of NY. Whoever succeeds him will be just the fourth DA in the last 80 years. Vance has left a mixed legacy - pushing through some reforms, tussling with former President Trump, criticized for mishandling high profile sexual predator cases and failing to reform Rikers and other problems. Aboushi is one of several reformers vying for the Democratic nomination. Listen as she discusses what electing a woman of color - the first o...
Apr 05, 2021•39 min
A few years ago Ronnie Greene told the stunning story of the police shooting and killing completely innocent families fleeing the horror of Katrina on a bridge in New Orleans. Two innocent people died. Several others severely injured. The police claimed to have been shot at first and sought attempted murder charges against some, but the charges did not hold. What eventually emerged was a stunning misjudgment by the police and a sloppy but stunning attempt to cover it up. Despite the brazenness o...
Mar 29, 2021•40 min
Kim Foxx is trying to reform one of the most notorious counties in the Country - see what she is doing about issues like wrongful convictions, police shootings and bail reform. Kim Foxx took over in the wake of the Laquan Macdonald killing and revelations in Chicago - a city that has had its share of scandals from the torture scandal and Lt. Jon Burge to the federal report on policing to one of the highest incidents of wrongful convictions in the country. Kim Foxx talks about policing in Chicago...
Mar 22, 2021•41 min
Everyday Injustice checks in with Laura Conover who was elected in the fall as Pima County Attorney in Arizona. She talks about her first few months on the job, what she has been able to accomplish and what she is still looking to accomplish.
Mar 15, 2021•42 min
Justin Brooks has headed the California Innocence Project since 1999. Over that time, the US has learned a lot about wrongful convictions and while it remains exceedingly difficult to free people wrongly convicted, the existence of wrongful convictions in the criminal legal system has helped to bring about reform. Listen as Justin Brooks talks about the state of wrongful convictions and cases like Brian Banks and JoAnn Parks.
Mar 08, 2021•44 min
In January Alec Karakatsanis argued before the Supreme Court of California on the need to end cash bail in the Humphrey case. The civil rights lawyer, social justice advocate founder and Executive Director of Civil Rights Corps, a Washington D.C. impact litigation nonprofit. Listen as Alec discusses with Everyday Injustice about the Humphrey case and injustice of cash bail.
Mar 04, 2021•47 min
July protests in San Luis Obispo where protesters blocked a local freeway turned into an arrest of Tianna Arrata and several co-defendants who face criminal charges in San Luis Obispo. After a local judge recused the DA's office and local prosecutor Dan Dow for bias, the AG's office has continued the prosecution. Everyday injustice talks with Curtis Briggs, Brian Ford, and Vince Barrientos of Pier 5 Law Offices about the case.
Mar 01, 2021•1 hr 21 min
Mike Schmidt won the Willamot District Attorney last summer, preparing to take over in January, when the outgoing incumbent resigned and he was appointed to start immediately. Right after his win, Portland was hit with protests, federal troops and turmoil. Schmidt talks to Everyday Injustice about the experience, what he has done as prosecutor and the situation on the ground in Portland.
Feb 22, 2021•40 min
Diana Becton is a former judge, appointed as DA in Contra Costa County and then won in her own right. With the appointment of AG Xavier Becerra by Biden to a federal post, the AG has become one of the most coveted posts with a lot of people maneuvering behind the scenes to get the appointment from Governor Newsom. Becton recently received the endorsement by the Legislative Black Caucus. She talks about her views on criminal justice reform and why a reformer is needed as California Attorney Gener...
Feb 18, 2021•27 min
It started with the murder of Fred Hampton in 1969 but tracks the Chicago Police torture cases which started with Andrew Wilson, a death row prisoner who was tortured by officers including the infamous Area 2 Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge. Attorney Flint Taylor who was in his early 20s in 1969 was there for it all and captures it beautifully in the book, "The Torture Machine," which he notes has a double-meaning, first the literal machine used by Burge and his men at Area 2 and second, as a...
Feb 15, 2021•57 min
Cristine Soto Deberry is former Chief of Staff under both SF District Attorney George Gascon and Chesa Boudin as well as Deputy Chief of Staff to Gavin Newsom when he was Sacramento Mayor. In the fall, she became executive director of the Prosecutor's Alliance, a non-profit seeking to bring reform the criminal justice system as an alternative to the California District Attorney's Association. Four California DA's are members - representing nearly one-third of the California population - Chesa Bo...
Feb 08, 2021•38 min
Taking on the policies of the incumbent DA and Sheriff, JoAnn Walker, a SF Police Officer, and Pamela Price, a Civil Rights Attorney are running for Alemeda County Sheriff and DA as a team. Walker has been a police officer in San Francisco for over 25 years and is looking to bring change to the Alameda County Sheriff, taking on issues like police reform and the Santa Rita Sheriff. Pamela Price is running a second time, after losing to Nancy O'Malley in 2018, she is looking to bring things like b...
Feb 01, 2021•54 min
This week's guest on Everyday Injustice, Adnan Khan, is the Executive Director of ReStore Justice which he co-founded while incarcerated. While in prison, he inspired and helped to launch legislation that dealt with the Felony Murder Rule - SB 1437 - which we have been tracking for the last year and a half. Khan discusses COVID and the devastation it has wrought to incarcerated populations and its intersection with mass incarceration.
Jan 22, 2021•46 min
Everyday Injustice features Jessica Pishko, a writer, lawyer, and consultant who focuses on sheriff accountability and jail decarceration. She is currently advising nonprofit organizations on sheriff accountability campaigns. She has a JD from Harvard Law School and an MFA from Columbia University. In a NY Times article in 2019, she noted that sheriffs "lack even the most basic independent oversight and supervision. In most states, there are few or no ways to hold them accountable, even when the...
Jan 08, 2021•55 min
