Public Defenseless

Today, Hunter spoke with two New York Criminal Defense Attorneys, Richard Willstatter and Stan Germán, to discuss the crisis at Rikers Island. For more than a decade, there has been a class action lawsuit against the city because of the inhumane conditions in the jails. Sadly, the calls for closure, reform, or receivership have continuously fallen on deaf ears. As a result, the death toll in Riker's is reaching record highs. While there may be good news coming in the near term as people with power finally decide to act, it cannot be forgotten that with every passing day, the lives of every person in the jail are at risk. Guests: Richard Willstatter, Partner, Law Offices of Green and Willstatter Stan Germán, Executive Director, New York County Defender Services Resources: NY Times Death Tracker at Rikers https://www.nytimes.com/article/rikers-deaths-jail.html Federal Prosecutor Urges Takeover of Rikers Island https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/nyregion/rikers-island-federal-takeover.html NYCDS https://nycds.org/ Timeline of Events at Rikers https://www.cityandstateny.com/politics/2023/07/timeline-closure-rikers-island/376662/ 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

Today, Hunter is joined by Annie Morgan, a Criminal Defense Appeals Attorney with the Guantanamo Bay Military Commission Defense Organization, to continue to the story of Guantanamo Bay where John Baker left off. Once John had the defenders responsible for the al-Nashiri case move off, Annie Morgan and a new team of defenders tried to pick up the pieces. On today's episode, we dive deeper in the war on terror, the legacy of the attack on the USS Cole, and what the never ending torture of al-Nashiri should mean to the every single American whose name it was done in. Guests: Annie Morgan, Criminal Defense Appeals Attorney, Military Commissions Defense Organization, Guantanamo Bay Resources: Bombing of the USS Cole https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/world/meast/uss-cole-bombing-fast-facts/index.html 1998 Kenyan Embassy Bombings https://www.state.gov/23rd-commemoration-of-the-august-7th-u-s-embassy-bombings/ Clinton Response to Embassy Bombings https://digitalcommons.nyls.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1480&context=journal_of_international_and_comparative_law Carol Rosenberg Writings on GITMO https://www.nytimes.com/by/carol-rosenberg Follow Carol on Twitter https://twitter.com/carolrosenberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Follow GITMO Watch on Twitter https://twitter.com/GitmoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor 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

Today, Hunter kicks off this week's theme of Guantanamo Bay coverage by speaking with BGen (Ret) John Baker. When John Baker took over as the lead defense counsel for the Military Commission Defense Organization at Guantanamo Bay, he could not imagine the abuse of power that he would go up against. From FBI informants being planted on the defense team, to classified surveillance of the conversations between defense counsel and client, and the brutal, nearly relentless torture of the detainees, John saw it all. Even with potential confinement looming over his head, John never stopped fighting for the rights of his clients. Guests: BGen (Ret) John Baker, Chief Public Defender of the Federal District of Western North Carolina Resources: John Baker Testimony to Senate Judiciary https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Baker%20Testimony2.pdf Guantánamo hearings halted amid accusations of FBI spying on legal team https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/14/guantanamo-bay-hearing-halted-fbi-spying John Baker Confinement Story https://www.politico.com/story/2017/11/03/john-baker-released-guantanamo-dispute-244523 Carol Rosenberg Writings on GITMO https://www.nytimes.com/by/carol-rosenberg Follow Carol on Twitter https://twitter.com/carolrosenberg?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Follow John on Twitter https://twitter.com/jgbaker1806?lang=en Follow GITMO Watch on Twitter https://twitter.com/GitmoWatch?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor Baker v Spath https://casetext.com/case/brigadier-gen-john-g-baker-us-marine-corps-v-spath UN Report on GTMO https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/06/expert-welcomes-historic-visit-united-states-and-guantanamo-detention More from Nashiri Case https://www.justsecurity.org/63663/al-nashiri-iii-a-no-good-very-bad-day-for-u-s-military-commissions/ https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/9CE6ACFD2F534EA5852583DE004E14D3/$file/18-1279-1783057.pdf 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

With every passing day, a new technology becomes available for police, prosecutors and the state to further side step the Fourth Amendment. On today's show, Hunter sat down with Dhruv Mehrotra, staff writer for Wired Magazine, to discuss the latest horrifying surveillance tech coming to a jurisdiction near you. Covenant Eyes started out as a way for couples and churches to "help" people fight they perceived to be an addiction to porn, but from the very beginning the obvious potential for abuse was on full display. Join Hunter and Dhruv as they unpack the story of how an entire family came under surveillance of the state merely because of an allegation. Guests: Dhruv Mehrotra, Staff Writer, Wired Magazine Resources: Check out all of Dhruv's work here: https://www.wired.com/author/dhruv-mehrotra/ Covenant Eyes writing https://www.wired.com/story/anti-porn-covenant-eyes-bond-revoked/ https://www.wired.com/story/covenant-eyes-anti-porn-accountability-monitoring-apps/ 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

Continuing this weeks coverage of the family policing system, Hunter was joined by Annick Lenoir-Peek, a North Carolina Deputy Parent Defender. Just like Tuesday's episode with Josh, Annick walks us through the hypocrisy inherent to the family policing system, but Annick also demonstrates a practical way for attorneys at any level to push back. By zealously bringing cases through the appellate system, Annick hopes she can continue to secure major victories for her clients in North Carolina and around the country. Guests: Annick Lenoir-Peek, North Carolina Deputy Parent Defender Resources: Jones v Hendrix https://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/jones-v-hendrix/ NCIDS.org https://www.ncids.org/ Contact Annick annick.i.lenoir.peek@nccourts.org 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

Today's episode kicks off these weeks focus on the family welfare system aka the family policing system. Hunter sat down with Josh Michtom, a senior assistant public defender in Juvenile representation. Despite the title, Josh primarily represents parents as the state attempts to take their children away. As with so much of our criminal legal system, the contours of the family policing system in Connecticut cannot be understood without first understanding the many racial, class, and gender based biased baked into it. Guests: Josh Michtom, Senior Assistant Public Defender in Juvenile representation, Connecticut Resources: Josh's Article: A Call to Action for Parents' Lawyers in the Family Regulation System: Bearing Witness as Praxis and Practice in the Face of Structural Injustice https://brooklynworks.brooklaw.edu/jlp/vol31/iss2/3/ McKeiver v Pennsylvania https://www.oyez.org/cases/1970/322 Follow Josh on Twitter https://twitter.com/RSGAT 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

Today, Hunter spoke with Deepak Budwani, the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer of the Santa Barbara Public Defender Office to discuss how he was able to grow the office 80% in just five years. Long time listeners of the show will know the emphasis on data collection and data analysis, and Deepak is the model for why those things are a must for public defense. In just under 90 days, Deepak helped open a new PD office in Idaho, and by taking the mindset from his time in the public sector, Deepak quickly grew that office by 50% in just three years. None of these massive success stories could have been possible if Deepak didn't understand the importance of creating and utilizing systems and processes that could capture the data he needed to make meaningful budget requests! Guests: Deepak Budwani, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer, Santa Barbara Public Defense Resources: Contact Deepak https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepak-budwani-57827042 DBudwani@countyofsb.org Santa Barbara Public Defender https://www.countyofsb.org/187/Public-Defender 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

Today, Hunter spoke with Civil Rights Corps' Attorney Peter Santina to discuss their efforts in uncovering and challenging prosecutorial misconduct. From Alleghany County to San Francisco County, Peter and his team are those leading the charge in revealing the negligence, maleficence, and misconduct of prosecutors around the country. This episode, however, does offer a reminder that all of their actions are enabled by judges, politicians, and legal ethics bodies that sit by and do nothing to hold prosecutors accountable for their actions. Guests: Peter Santina, Managing Attorney of the Prosecutorial Accountability Project, Civil Rights Corps Resources: To do something about this, and raise awareness of this continuing racial discrimination, CRC worked with our AccountabilityNY professor partners to prepare and file 10 complaints against prosecutors alleging court findings of racial or religious discrimination. CRC also publicized the fact that an attorney for the NYPD union had once been a prosecutor who used a handwritten guide of racist and sexist tropes to select juries, leading to three reversals. Journalists at the Gothamist, The City, Queens Daily Eagle, and Davis Vanguard each wrote original stories about the discrimination complaints. CRC attorney Bina Ahmad appeared on WBAI radio and WNYC radio with Dexter Murray, a man personally victimized by this form of discrimination. Mr. Murray's powerful op-ed ran in the NY Daily News. In San Francisco, nearly 1,000 people are past their last day for speedy trial, over 100 of whom are incarcerated, awaiting an unknown trial date. In a particular pending case, the San Francisco Public Defender's Office asked the California Supreme Court to intervene and restore people's speedy trial rights. In support of this petition, CRC filed an amicus brief to explain to the justices how the denial of speedy trial rights turns an already-flawed system of plea bargaining into a system of plea begging and unfairly extends the already-oppressive conditions of pretrial detention. CRC await the California Supreme Court's decision. The prosecutor's choice to pursue or dismiss charges is one of their greatest powers and is ripe for abuse. As over 90 percent of criminal cases resolve by plea bargain, recent reports have exposed the troubling lack of transparency and oversight in this plea bargain system (2020 Vera Institute Report) and that innocent people plead guilty to crimes they did not commit (2023 American Bar Association Task Force Report). In March 2023, the longtime Allegheny County District Attorney, Stephen Zappala, was in a contentious primary battle for reelection against the Chief Public Defender, who was also running for District Attorney. It was reported that after Zappala did not secure the Democratic Committee's nomination, a supervisor in his office gave line prosecutors instructions that referenced the election. In the following days, two prosecutors were reported to refused to dismiss weak charges, and each prosecutor cited the election—and Zappala's endorsement loss—in their explanation. CRC worked with two legendary professors, David Rudovsky (Penn Carey School of Law) and Jules Lobel (University of Pittsburgh School of Law), to prepare and file an ethics complaint with the Disciplinary Board of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania against Zappala. We included a 2021 incident where Zappala ordered his prosecutors to not offer any plea bargain to clients of a Black defense attorney who had criticized his office. A journalist at the PGH City Paper wrote about the complaint, interviewing Peter. Civil Rights Corps https://civilrightscorps.org/ 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

On previous episodes, we have talked about the importance of data collection and collaboration with outside organizations to turn that data into meaningful talking points for policy change. On today's show, Hunter was joined by three amazing data scientists from SMU's Deason Center, Dr. Andrew Davies, Dr. Victoria Smiegocki, and Shelby Sirivore, to discuss some of their interesting data analysis on Public Defense in Texas. From appointment rates to the impacts of having a institutional public defense, today's guests offer us a glimpse into the insights every state could glean if it only collected the data necessary for people like Andy, Victoria, and Shelby the chance to analyze it. Guests: Dr. Andrew Davies, Research Director, SMU Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center Dr. Victoria Smiegocki, Assistant Research Director, SMU Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center Shelby Sirivore, Research Project Coordinator Resources: SMU Deason Center https://www.smu.edu/Law/Centers-and-Initiatives/Deason-Center Texas Eligibility Standards https://scholar.smu.edu/deasoncenter/8/ Rural Representation in Texas https://digitalcommons.mainelaw.maine.edu/mlr/vol71/iss2/5/ Qualities of Public Defender Leader https://smu.box.com/s/x0gjpz6py3wwcvlcdcxc8omnma55n7bd 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

On today's show, Hunter sat down with Cameron Blazer, the Circuit Public Defender in Charleston, South Carolina, to discuss the past, present, and future of Public Defense in the state. From the start of the show, Hunter has long wanted to discuss with more detail the South Carolina practice of non-attorneys serving as judges, but there is so much more to this episode than that. In an unusual turn of events, South Carolina has actually started to increase the funding for Public Defense, and in turn, people like Cameron are seizing the opportunity to make meaningful changes to both their practice and the lives of their clients. Guests: Cameron Blazer, Circuit Public Defender, 9th Circuit, South Carolina Resources: "When Your Judge Isn't a Lawyer" https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/02/when-your-judge-isnt-a-lawyer/515568 "Lawsuit Challenges Rural Judges without Law Degrees Instructed to Oversee Jury Trials." http://www.fernleyreporter.com/lawsuit-challenges-rural-judges-without-law-degrees-instructed-to-oversee-jury-trials "Rush To Judgement: How South Carolina's Summary Courts Fail to Protect Constitutional Rights". https://www.nacdl.org/getattachment/ab9d6b03-2b45-4235-890e-235461a9bb2d/rush-to-judgment-how-south-carolina-s-summary-courts-fail-to-protect-constitutional-rights.pdf "Summary Injustice: A Look at Constitutional Deficiencies in South Carolina's Summary Courts" https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/media/publications/Summary%20Injustice%20-%20A%20look%20at%20Constitutional%20Deficiencies%20in%20SC%20Summary%20Courts%2C%20ACLU%2C%202016.pdf "These Judges Can Have Less Training Than Barbers but Still Decide Thousands of Cases Each Year." https://www.propublica.org/article/these-judges-can-have-less-training-than-barbers-but-still-decide-thousands-of-cases-each-year After More Than Five Years of Litigation, Lexington County, S.C., Agrees to Dramatically Increase Funding for Indigent Defense https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/after-more-five-years-litigation-lexington-county-sc-agrees-dramatically-increase South Carolina Public Defender Commission https://sccid.sc.gov/ Follow Cameron on Twitter https://twitter.com/cameronblazer?lang=en 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