Today, Hunter sat down with Kimberly Simmons, Executive Director, and Jamie Spencer, managing attorney, at the Texas Rio Grande Public Defender to discuss their role in fighting against the mass immigration prosecutions of Operation Lone Star. Despite immigration policy falling under the exclusive control of the federal government, Texas started OLS after it determined not enough was being done to arrest and deport migrants in the country illegally. As with most tough on crime immigration polici...
Jan 23, 2024•1 hr 12 min•Ep. 201
Today, Hunter is joined by longtime criminal justice investigative journalist Radley Balko to discuss his newest reporting on Public Defender systems around the country. Over his storied career covering everything from police misconduct to legislation like AEDPA, Radley noticed that at the heart of so many cases was poor access to competent counsel. This spurred him in the fall of 2023 to start an investigative series into the inner workings of each state’s public defender system. Today, Hunter ...
Jan 18, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 200
Today, Hunter spoke with Annie Legomsky, the Holistic Defense Service leader for the Missouri State Public Defender. On this episode, Hunter and Annie discuss the incredible success stories from the implementation of a state wide holistic defense practice. For many, holistic defense seems like a great idea, but they feel they cannot muster the resources to make it happen. This story is an excellent example of the ways an office can creatively find the money to make holistic defense possible Gues...
Jan 16, 2024•59 min
Today, Hunter is once again joined by Mississippi State Public Defender Andre de Gruy to discuss the criminal legal system in Mississippi. Specifically, Hunter and Andre dig into how the state ended the “dead zone” in the legal system that left incarcerated people without counsel for more than a year. They discuss the on going problems in making the changes meaningful improvements in the overall legal system, and after that, they touch on the state’s attempt to take over the judicial system in J...
Jan 11, 2024•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 198
The conditions with which Public Defenders must fight under are set in the state house. That’s why Hunter is so excited to speak with one of the best criminal law policy groups in the country, Justice Forward Virginia. Rob Poggenklass, Ashely Shapiro, and Andy Elders join the show to discuss some of the slate of policy reforms they are hoping to tackle this legislative cycle. From prospective Fourth Amendment waivers to child felony expungement cases, Justice Forward Virginia has an impressive a...
Jan 09, 2024•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 197
After our sobering conversation about the Parkland Shooting case on Tuesday, Hunter continues looking into the death penalty in today’s episode. Joining him to discuss the abolition of the death penalty in Nevada is Nancy Hart and Chris Peterson. Nancy is the President of the Nevada Coalition Against the Death Penalty and Chris is the Legal Director at the ACLU of Nevada. Together, they bring decades of experience in the criminal legal and death penalty abolition space, and both expertly lay out...
Jan 04, 2024•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 196
Today, Hunter is honored to speak with two people from the defense team of Nikolas Cruz, Casey Secor and Kate O’Shea, to discuss their role in securing a life sentence over the death penalty. Today’s episode touches on an incredibly sensitive, complex topic about one of the most horrific crimes committed in recent memory. Throughout this episode, Kate and Casey draw on their years of expertise in fighting against the death penalty to explain how this incredible tragedy occurred. As is always the...
Jan 02, 2024•2 hr 8 min•Ep. 195
Contact Hunter Parnell: Publicdefenseless@gmail.com Instagram @PublicDefenselessPodcast Twitter @PDefenselessPod www.publicdefenseless.com Subscribe to the Patron www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast Donate on PayPal https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ Donate on Stripe https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN...
Dec 22, 2023•9 min
For the last episode of the year, we are returning to the Aurora Municipal Office to unpack the ongoing effort by the Aurora City Council to disband the Public Defender Office. This time, Hunter is joined by the new Chief Public Defender, Elizabeth Cadiz. Over a long career in the office, Elizabeth has seen the incredible corruption and Constitutional violations. Over the last year, she helped to orchestrate an amazing challenge to the city attorney’s office pattern and practice of discovery vio...
Dec 21, 2023•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 194
As a follow up to my conversation with Elizabeth Cadiz, Chief Public Defender of the Aurora Colorado Municipal Public Defender, here are some of the public comments made before City Council on 4 December 2023. Be sure to listen to my conversation with Elizabeth for the full context of these speakers! If you would like to watch the speakers on youtube, the city council meeting can be found at this link with the relevant parts starting at 27 minutes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmeK_lsixF4...
Dec 21, 2023•26 min
Today, Hunter sat down with Kimberly Simmons, the former Executive Director of the Idaho Public Defense Commission, and Paul Riggins, a private criminal defense attorney in Idaho, to discuss the past decade+ of public defense in Idaho. Like so many county based systems covered on the show, Idaho was once a patch work model where the quality of representation a person could expect depended almost entirely on where that person was arrested. Seeing the flaws in this model, Idaho took major steps to...
Dec 19, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 193
In our last instalment of our mini series on the Fourth Amendment, Hunter spoke with Andrew Ferguson, Professor of Law at American University Washington College of Law. On this episode, we will explore the rise of Big Data Policing, also known as predictive policing, and how the digital era we are in must be understood differently than previous eras if the Fourth Amendment is to protect people’s privacy. Guests: Andrew Ferguson, Professor of Law, American University Washington College of Law Res...
Dec 14, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 192
At the founding of the country, the Fourth Amendment was designed to protect against general warrants. In the colonial period, the Crown would secure warrants to search anything and everything in one’s possession in often meritless attempts to harass and intimidate colonists. One would think that this history would make people wary at the thought of such a warrant, but with the advent of Geo-Fence and Key Word Search Warrants, the general warrant has entered the digital age…with the legal system...
Dec 12, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 191
Continuing our Fourth Amendment mini-series, Hunter is joined today by Clare Garvie, the facial recognition technology guru at the Fourth Amendment Center. As she lays out in her excellent report on facial recognition technology, its use is widespread, and that should frighten everyone. Thanks to Clare’s expertise, hopefully each of you will walk away understanding that facial recognition technology is not something that police departments should be using any time soon. Guests: Clare Garvie, Tra...
Dec 07, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 190
Today, we kick of two straight weeks of coverage on the future of the Fourth Amendment. We start our mini-series by speaking to the Director of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Fourth Amendment Center Jumana Musa. Today’s episode sets the stage for our upcoming conversations about facial recognition, reverse key word warrants, geofence warrants, and the general rise of big data policing. The ultimate question: Given the Supreme Court and lower Court decisions on Fourth Amend...
Dec 05, 2023•59 min•Ep. 189
Without exception, every single state Public Defender system is facing a shortage of Public Defenders. In many of our episodes, we’ve discussed innovative ways to try and bolster the number of people in law school interested in pursuing a career in Public Defense. Unfortunately as today’s guest reveals, there is simply no way for law schools to solve the shortage of people. John Gross has spent the better part of the last two decades trying to come up with ways to solve the crisis in Public Defe...
Nov 30, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 188
Today, Hunter is joined by fellow podcaster David Moore. David is the host of the incredible Podcast, Another Not Guilty, that seeks to take a Public Defender twist on the true crime genre. As arguably the most popular genre of podcast, the true crime world often disregards the cases that result in a not guilty and are desperately lacking the perspective of the defense counsel who secure them. With ANG, David strives to give a platform for Public Defenders from around the country to showcase the...
Nov 28, 2023•52 min•Ep. 187
Today, Hunter is once again joined by UCLA law student, Kaelen Perrochet, for another deep dive into the world of legal ethics. Last time he was on, Kaelen explored the reasons why we punish people, and today, he brings more excellent commentary on why it is so difficult for people to imagine a country that protects a person’s positive and negative rights. Guests: Kaelen Perrochet, Law Student, UCLA School of Law Resources: Follow Kaelen on Twitter https://twitter.com/KaelenPerrochet Follow Kael...
Nov 23, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 186
After speaking with Chief Public Defenders from most of the major metropolitan areas in California, Hunter turns today’s episode to the smallest full time Public Defender Office in the state. Lael Kayfetz, Chief Public Defender in Siskiyou County California, joins the show to share her experience of leading an office in conservative, rural California. While not all the things that make her successful can easily be ported over to larger jurisdictions, there is a great many lessons to be learned f...
Nov 21, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 185
An unfortunate theme of the show is the reality that the Supreme Court is more than happy to close the doors of the courthouse to those who are factually or legally innocent. Preferring to uphold and support the concept of “finality” over truth, the Supreme Court once again found a way to keep a potentially innocent man from escaping an unjust sentence. Joining Hunter to discuss this and more is Alison Guernsey, Director of the University of Iowa College of Law Federal Criminal Defense Clinic, a...
Nov 16, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 184
Today, Hunter is once again joined by Delaware Chief Public Defender, Kevin O’Connell. Last time, Kevin came on to discuss the uniquely terrible Delaware Law Enforcement Bill of Rights. This time, Hunter and Kevin did a deeper dive into the past, present, and future of Public Defense in the state of Delaware. Of all the important parts of this episode, the journey taken by Delaware Public Defense following their Sixth Amendment Center report is strong evidence that meaningful change is possible!...
Nov 14, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 183
Today, Hunter sat down with a fierce, lifelong advocate for a better system of Youth Justice. Betsy Clarke, the Founder of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, joins the show today to talk about her hope for continuing to improve the youth justice system at the state level. Drawing on decades of work and important lessons from the youth justice systems of other nations, Betsy is an amazing resource for all those trying to find ways to overhaul our exceptionally cruel juvenile justice system. Guests:...
Nov 09, 2023•59 min•Ep. 182
Today, Hunter is once again joined by two amazing advocates from Partners for Justice. Rebecca Solow, Founder and Co-Executive Director, and Vichal Kumar, Director of Capacity Building, join us today to discuss the amazing progress of their partnerships with state and local public defender offices around the country. The best part of these Partners for Justice programs is the way they build the capacity of Public Defense by responding to the individual needs of each office and jurisdiction. From...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr 19 min•Ep. 181
Today, Hunter is joined by Sean Wilson, the Organizing Director at Dream Corp Justice, to discuss his journey from incarceration to community organizing to driving major criminal legal reforms. After 17 years of incarceration, Sean understood the ways our mass incarceration system fails to help people rehabilitate and re-enter society with the skills they need to thrive. From his local community in Milwaukee to communities around the country, Sean brings incredible passion and drive to help peop...
Nov 02, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 180
Today, Hunter sat down with Professor Keramet Reiter to discuss her decades+ research into solitary confinement and the American Prison System. In her immense scholarship, it is easier to say what Keramet has not written about than what she has. With her vast array of American and International solitary confinement practices, she is the perfect guest to explain the problems with solitary confinement and the prison system as a whole Guests: Keramet Reiter, Professor & Vice Chair of Criminolog...
Oct 31, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 179
Today, Hunter is joined by two fierce advocates for youth justice in the state of Tennessee. Chris Kleiser, a Knox County Public Defender, and Meribah Knight, a Senior Reporter for Special Projects with Nashville Public Radio, bring us a story of how one rouge judge illegally policed and caged young people in Rutherford County Tennessee. Many of you may have read the shocking reporting last year about Judge Donna Scott Davenport. Over more than two decades, she abused her position of power on th...
Oct 26, 2023•52 min•Ep. 178
Today’s guest brings a decade plus of experience in criminal justice policy reform to the San Francisco Public Defender Office. Hunter spoke with Angela Chan, Chief of Confront and Advocate, the policy branch of the SF Public Defender Office. In most places, District Attorneys operate by themselves in the policy world, and that is part of the reason that our society is awash with their policy preferences. In San Francisco however, Brooke Jenkins must compete with the powerful voice of Angela, Ma...
Oct 24, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 175
Today, Hunter spoke with a longtime investigator in the innocence movement, Adam Deutsch, to discuss the wrongful conviction of Tim Wright. In 2008, was convicted of the murder of Justin Baumgardner, but after more than a decade behind bars, evidence is mounting that Tim is behind bars as a result of an elaborate cover up by the Amherst County Deputy Sheriffs. With the help of bad ballistics, bad cellular triangulation, and a witness with every motive to lie, Tim was convicted. Thankfully, there...
Oct 19, 2023•49 min•Ep. 174
*There was an issue with the file uploading to the podcast platforms. It has been corrected! Apologies* Today, Hunter spoke with Iowa Public Defender, Darren Page, to peel back the layers of Public Defense in Iowa to try and understand why the Chief Justice of the Iowa Supreme Court said the system was in a state of crisis. On many episodes, Hunter likes to explore how states determine if someone should get a Public Defender and if states make those who get a Public Defender reimburse the state ...
Oct 17, 2023•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 175
Joining Hunter today is Keith Wattley, the Founder and Executive Director of Uncommon Law. Keith and his team at Uncommon Law support people navigating California's discretionary parole process through trauma-informed legal representation, mental health counselling, legislative and policy advocacy, and in-prison programming led by those who have been through the process themselves. For decades, people have been aware of the pervasive bias that infects the parole system of California, but little ...
Oct 12, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 171
