246 | Eric Whitcher: South Dakota's Small First Step to Statewide Public Defense

Today, Hunter sat down with Eric Whitcher, Director of the Pennington County Public Defender Office. Until recently, South Dakota and Pennsylvania shared the inglorious distinction of being the last two states in the country to provide 0 dollars towards public defense at the state level. Finally after years of advocacy, it appears South Dakota is about to change that. Eric joins the show to discuss the statewide commission that is primed to start a massive overhaul of the Public Defense delivery in the state.  

Guests:

Eric Whitcher, Director, Pennington County Public Defense, South Dakota

Resources:

Pennington County Public Defender Website

https://www.pennco.org/pdo

Eric’s Linked in

https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-whitcher-07b9aa295?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F

HB 1057

https://sdlegislature.gov/Session/Bill/24943

Task Force Report

https://ujs.sd.gov/uploads/committees/Indigent/ILSTaskForceFinalReportRecommendations.pdf

Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            

Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 

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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*