Anyone paying attention can tell you that our criminal legal system is perpetuating cruelty and harm, but the complexity of the legal world overwhelms most people simply trying to get through another day.
Public Defenseless explores the rot in the justice system and what we can do about it. Join host, Hunter Parnell, as he interviews top defense attorneys and criminal justice stakeholders from across the country as they pull apart the convoluted web of our criminal justice system.
Like so many of you, Hunter is not an attorney, simply tired of a news cycle and talking heads that offer no real solutions to the ever-growing list of problems we face. Hunter hopes that with this information, you will share his belief that ordinary people still can make a difference.
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Criminal defense lawyer Murat Erkan details the alarming case of Wilson Martell-Lebron, whose state trial was interrupted by ICE agents. The episode uncovers how local prosecutors and police allegedly conspired with ICE, concealing the plan from the judge. It explores the judge's courageous response, the federal government's subsequent intimidation, and the broader implications for civil liberties and the rule of law in the U.S. legal system.
Today, Hunter spoke with Damon Drake, Executive Director of We Resolve Minnesota, a participatory defense organization out of the twin cities. As is the case in our discussion about participatory defense, Damon joins the show to discuss the successes and challenges of trying to get Public Defenders onboard with the participatory defense. Guest Damon Drake, Executive Director, We Resolve Minnesota Resources: Learn more about We Resolve Here https://weresolve-mn.com/ Contact Hunter Parnell: Public...
Today, Hunter spoke with Heather Rogers and Caitlin Becker of the Santa Cruz County Public Defenders. In 2020, the Sixth Amendment Center put together a report detailing the severe issues with how Santa Cruz County provided Public Defense. At the time, a law firm was working a flat rate fee contract to provide public defender services in the county. As is expected, that system was deeply flawed and couldn’t meet the demands of the Sixth Amendment. Fast forward five years, Heather, Caitlin, and t...
Today, Hunter spoke with journalist Piper French about the wrongful conviction of Jimmie “Chris” Duncan. In 1998, Duncan was convicted of murdering his girlfriend’s 23-month-old daughter. Originally, Duncan was charged with negligent homicide as it appeared his story, that he stepped away for a few minutes while the child took a bath and then she fell and drowned, was accurate. However, the notorious peddler of the junk science bite mark “evidence,” Dr. Michael West, conducted a dubious autopsy ...
Today, Hunter sat down with Heather Lewis a participatory defense organizer and the Executive Director of the Reuniting Family Bail Fund. Unlike many places where participatory defense hubs have been set up, Montgomery County Public Defenders welcomed participatory defense with open arms. Today, we will see the benefit of having an activated community when policy makers retaliate against public defenders. Guest Heather Lewis, Reuniting Family Bail Fund, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Resources:...
Today, Hunter sat down with Civil Rights lawyers Darold Killmer and Maddie Lips to discuss a tragic case. James Purdy, a 76 year old man with dementia and Parkinson’s, was arrested after a women alleged he attempted to kidnap her. When he was arrested, Purdy incredibly frail condition was obvious and his family insisted he be kept on his essential medication. Unfortunately, the Jefferson Count Jail staff did not comply with this request. Over his multi-week pretrial incarceration, Purdy was reco...
Today, Hunter spoke with Emmy Award winning documentarian and investigative journalist, Gianna Toboni to discuss her new book The Volunteer: The Failure of the Death Penalty and One Inmate’s Quest to Die with Dignity. In this book, Gianna tells the story of Scott Dozier. He was on death row in Nevada for two separate homicide convictions, but despite him volunteering to be executed, forces both inside and outside of the prison prevented the state from executing him. Ultimately, Dozier took his o...
Today, Hunter spoke with Criminal Defense Lawyer Blake Weiner about a wrongful conviction case he has been working on. Blake’s client, Marcus Cooper was charged with rape and strangulation in two separate counties in Virginia. At the first trial, evidence came to light that the complaining witness was lying about pictures she provided to the Commonwealth that she claimed proved her accusations. This trial resulted in a mistrial, and ultimately the charges were dismissed. At the second trial, whi...
Today, Hunter spoke with Kristen Rome the Executive Director of the Louisiana Center for Children’s Rights. Last fall, Hunter spoke with another member of LCCR about the policies pursued by Governor Jeff Landry to make it easier for the state to criminalize young people. Sadly, today’s episode is on the same topic. Up for a vote on March 29th, Louisiana’s Amendment Three is a Constitutional Amendment that would give the legislature nearly unlimited power to get young people prosecuted in the adu...
Today, Hunter spoke with former Public Defender and current Criminal Defense Lawyer Amy Parker about a shocking wrongful conviction case. Normally, Public Defenders find themselves working in opposition of Child Protective Services workers. So when a former CPS worker reached out to Amy, admit that an innocent man was incarcerated, Amy knew there was a serious injustice happening. Through her work, she was able to exonerate Mr. Ezquiel Apolo-Albino and stop his deportation, but how did he end up...
Today, Hunter spoke with Nayna Gupta of the American Immigration Council. This conversation covers a recent slate of Trump Administration Immigration Policies that are a naked power grab by the President so he can detain and deport whoever he wants, whenever he wants, and however he wants without due process of law. Specifically, Nayna walks us through how the Alien Enemies Act, the designation of several cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, and the new Immigration Registration requiremen...
Today, Hunter spoke with Anna Ramirez Zarate and Lourdes Best of the San Mateo Chapter of Silicon Valley De-Bug. On today’s episode, we will hear about how the community views the criminal legal system, the Private Defender Program in San Mateo, and how they felt about the harmful, racist emails sent by some members of PDP. Guest Ana Ramirez Zarate, Community and Participatory Defense Organizer, Silicon Valley De-Bug Lourdes Best, Community and Participatory Defense Organizer, Silicon Valley De-...
Today, Hunter spoke with Lisa Maguire and Harpreet Samra of the San Mateo County Private Defender Program. Unlike the normal contract Public Defender model, the PDP operates as a managed assigned counsel system. As the Chief Defender, Lisa, manages a group of private contractors who handle the Public Defender needs of the county. This grants here significantly more oversight than in a traditional Private Defender System. Harpreet is the lead for the PDP’s Social Worker program, and she ensures a...
Today, Hunter spoke with two defense lawyers handling the USS Cole case out of Guantanamo Bay. Allison Miller and Katie Carmon are two of the defense counsel on the al-Nashiri, and last fall, they thought that after more than two decades of pre trial confinement, the cases would finally end when they entered into a plea negotiation with the government. Unfortunately, then Secretary of Defense Loyd Austin exercised undue and unlawful command influence by terminating the agreements. Now with a new...
Today, Hunter spoke with Travis Weiner the former Colorado Public Defender suing the State Public Defender for wrongful termination. As a Colorado Public Defender, Travis reached a point where he estimated he would need more than 4,000 hours to complete the cases assigned to him. At that point, Travis believed he had an ethical obligation to withdraw from a newly assigned case. Unfortunately, the Colorado State Public Defender did not support him. Instead, they fired him. Now he is suing the sta...
Today, Hunter spoke with Professor Daniel Loehr to discuss his research on the Eugenics Origin of Habitual Offender Laws. While many people hear habitual offender laws and think of the three strikes laws from the tough on crime era of the 1990’s, Daniel reveals that the history of these laws traces back to a much earlier and darker time in our nation’s history. Daniel lays out how America’s Eugenics movement wanted habitual offender laws to act as a way to stop certain populations from procreati...
Today, Hunter spoke with Amanda Jack and Kalle Condliffe of the New York Legal Aid Society about the fight to save Kalief’s Law. This law, passed in 2020, aimed to create much needed reforms to evidence discovery in criminal trials. Naturally, prosecutors have hated new requirements for disclosure, and they have attempted to get the laws peeled back before they even went in place. Now with the help of Governor Hochul, prosecutors are once again trying to get these laws repealed so they can retur...
Today, Hunter spoke with Paul Chambers and James McDermott of the Far West Texas Public Defenders Office. This time, they joined to discuss how Paul discovered and James litigated a pattern and practice of discovery violations by the El Paso District Attorney’s Office. Guest James McDermott, Chief Public Defender, Far West Texas Regional Public Defender Paul Chambers, Deputy Chief Public Defender, Far West Texas Regional Public Defender Resources: Far West Texas Public Defender in the News https...
Today, Hunter spoke with Alexandra Bailey and Cindy Nguyen to discuss Oklahoma’s Failure to Protect Laws. A few years back, Alexandra joined the show to discuss theses laws, and as a reminder, these laws allow for victims of domestic violence, mostly women, to be sentenced to longer jail sentences for failing to protect their children from abuse than the men who commit the abuse. Today, Cindy and Alexandra join the show to discuss the fight to reform these laws. Guest Alexandra Bailey, Domestic ...
Today, Hunter spoke with Professor Justin Murray about his recent law review article, Prosecutorial Reform and the Myth of Individualized Enforcement. On several past episodes, Hunter has explored the field of Progressive Prosecution. As he has uncovered, much of the push back to these types of prosecutors is their decision not to prosecute certain types of crimes. Today, Justin is here to show how that critique does not comport with the history of prosecution, and he asks us to rethink how we u...
Today, Hunter spoke with Ann Block and Nithya Nathan-Pineau from the Immigrant Resource Legal Center to discuss the newest immigration related legislation, executive orders, and policies coming from the Trump administration. Starting with the Laken Riley act, Hunter, Ann, and Nithya walk through the ways in which the criminal and immigration legal systems are fusing together to target immigrants around the country. Guest Ann Block, Senior Staff Attorney, Immigrant Resource Legal Center Nithya Na...
Today, Hunter spoke with Professor Alexis Hoag-Fordjour about two of her most recent law review articles. In her first, she argues for a new way of thinking about how we evaluate claims of ineffective assistance of counsel. In her second article, she makes the case for why public defense should be universally applied. Guest Alexis Hoag-Fordjour, Professor of Law, Scholar in Residence, Co-Director Center for Criminal Justice, Brooklyn Law School Resources: Universal Public Defense https://papers....
Today, Hunter spoke once again with Nikki Baszynski of the Wren Collective to talk about the Criminal Legal System in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. This time, they discussed an update about youth representation in the county, and they also did a deep dive into how the county jail is denying prisoners in person visits and recording their conversations with family. Guest Nikki Baszynski, Principal, Wren Collective Resources: Wren Collective Report https://www.wrencollective.org/_files/ugd/8fe8f0_72700fa5...
Today, Hunter spoke once again with Heather Cessna, the Executive Director of the Kansas Board of Indigents’ Defense Services. This time, Hunter and Heather discuss how Kansas Public Defense could be close to collapsing due to a lack of lawyers and a legislature that has yet to properly address the issue. Guest Heather Cessna, Executive Director, Kansas Board of Indigents’ Defense Services Resources: Contact KBDIS https://www.ksbids.gov/ Contact Heather hcessna@sbids.org Rural Justice Report htt...
Today, Hunter spoke once again with Rob Poggenklass and Bryan Kennady from Justice Forward Virginia. Last year, Justice Forward Virginia joined the show to discuss the 2024 criminal justice policies being floated in Virginia. Today, Rob and Bryan are here to discuss what the 2025 legislative session has in store for criminal justice reform in Virginia. Guest Rob Poggenklass, Executive Director, Justice Forward Virginia Bryan Kennedy, Public Defender, Fairfax County, Treasurer, Justice Forward Vi...
Today, Hunter spoke with Kerrie Liang, a student at Princeton University, to discuss the wrongful conviction of Ivery Dorsey. Through her and classmates work at Princeton, Kerrie walks us through how the inconsistent eye witness testimony of one person ultimately led to the wrongful conviction of Ivery. Guest Kerrie Liang, Student, Princeton University Resources: More Resources about Ivery’s Case https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpV9qkt7JHM https://www.instagram.com/bringiveryhome/reel/CsKxrNrOGg...
Today, Hunter spoke with Hans Meyer and Holly Lucas to discuss a variety of topics at the intersection of the criminal legal and immigration systems. With the Trump administration poised to implement a policy of mass deportation, Hans and Holly offer insights into how they have worked in court rooms and the Colorado State Legislature to guide Colorado to more humane immigration policies. Guest Holly Lucas, Public Defender, Colorado State Public Defender Hans Meyer, Criminal Defense and Immigrati...
Today, Hunter spoke with Senior Reporter at The Appeal, Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg. A few weeks ago, Hunter was joined by Phil Wilayto of the Virginia Defender to talk about why prisoners of Virginia’s Red Onion Prison were lighting themselves on fire. Today, Elizabeth joins to reveal how despite the public proclamations by DOC officials, prisoners were lighting themselves on fire all along. Guest Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg, Senior Reporter, The Appeal Resources: Follow Elizabeth https://x.com/eli...
Today, Hunter spoke with Professor Brittany Freidman about her new book Carceral Apartheid. In this book, Professor Freidman tells the story of the California Prison System, the racist violence the system permits to exist, and how the prison system used all of us power to crush the political arm of the Black Guerilla Family. Through this conversation, Hunter and Professor Freidman hope to demonstrate what our system does and does not permit to continue. Guest Brittany Friedman, Professor of Soci...
Today, Hunter sat down with Scott Troxell to wrap up our conversation on Colorado Municipal Courts. This time, the conversation focuses on how Rifle Municipal Courts were giving people 6 Months sentences for thefts that the state only gave 10 day sentences. Guest Scott Troxell, Attorney, Glenwood Springs, Colorado Resources: 2017 ACLU Report on Colorado Municipal Courts https://www.aclu-co.org/sites/default/files/JUSTICE-DERAILED-web.pdf Coverage of Municipal Courts in Rifle by Denver Post https...
