241 episodes

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.

Public Defenseless Hunter Parnell

    • Government

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.

    234 | Stephen Hanlon: Case Withdrawals, Federal Funding, and the Five Year Plan to Fix Public Defense in Oregon

    234 | Stephen Hanlon: Case Withdrawals, Federal Funding, and the Five Year Plan to Fix Public Defense in Oregon

    Today, Hunter is joined once again by Public Interest lawyer Stephen Hanlon. This time, Hunter and Stephen are breaking down the five year plan that he hopes will fix Public Defense in Oregon. While it is surely an ambitious plan, this plan gives urges public defenders to do all that they can to force the powers that be to take the crisis seriously: case withdrawals.
    Guests:
    Stephen Hanlon, Public Interest Lawyer
    Resources:
    Oregon Report 5 Year Plan
    https://www.opb.org/article/2024/03/21/oregon-public-defense-report-more-attorneys/
     
    Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
    Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 
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    • 1 hr 2 min
    233 | Lee Wachocki: With Almost 3k People Unrepresented, Why is Oregon adding More Cases to the Public Defender Crisis

    233 | Lee Wachocki: With Almost 3k People Unrepresented, Why is Oregon adding More Cases to the Public Defender Crisis

    Today, Hunter is once again joined by Lee Wachocki, a Public Defender and union leader in Portland, Oregon. As the Public Defender crisis continues in the state, this week is about figuring out how the state is responding. At the front line level, Lee reveals that little has functionally changed at his level to demonstrate the state is close to solving the problem. In fact, with Oregon recriminalizing drug possession, the state appears primed to super charge the issue.
     
    Guests:
    Lee Wachocki, Public Defender, Multnomah County
    Resources:
    Multnomah County DA Debate
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wehZ548c-OY
    DA Schmidt Endorsing Recriminalization
    Mike Schmidt Endorses Proposal to Recriminalize Hard Drugs (wweek.com)
     Bad Reporting on Public Defender Caseload
    Record Number of People Face Criminal Charges in Multnomah County With No Defense Attorney (wweek.com)
    Impacts of Recriminalization
    https://www.axios.com/local/portland/2024/03/19/public-defender-crisis-recriminalization-oregon
     
    Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
    Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 
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    @PublicDefenselessPodcast
    Twitter                                                                
    @PDefenselessPod
    www.publicdefenseless.com 
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    • 1 hr 9 min
    232 | Robin Bernstein: The New York Prison that Started our For Profit Prison Industry

    232 | Robin Bernstein: The New York Prison that Started our For Profit Prison Industry

    Today, Hunter is joined Professor Robin Bernstein to discuss her newest book, Freeman's Challenge: The Murder that Shook America's Original Prison for Profit. When many of us think of the for-profit prisons, we think of the post slavery south at places like Parchman. However, that is not where the story started. Today, Robin joins the show to discuss Auburn State Prison and what we can learn from the history of for profit prisons.
     
    Guests:
    Robin Bernstein, Dillon Professor of American History and Professor of African and African American Studies and of Studies of Women, Gender, & Sexuality, Harvard University
    Resources:
     Order the Book Here
    https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/F/bo213968137.html
     
    Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
    Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 
    Instagram
    @PublicDefenselessPodcast
    Twitter                                                                
    @PDefenselessPod
    www.publicdefenseless.com 
    Subscribe to the Patron
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    • 1 hr 13 min
    231 | Dorsey Nunn: From Banning the Box to Restoring the Right to Vote, One Man's Struggle for the Rights of the Current and Formerly Incarcerated

    231 | Dorsey Nunn: From Banning the Box to Restoring the Right to Vote, One Man's Struggle for the Rights of the Current and Formerly Incarcerated

     Today, Hunter is joined by the powerful Dorsey Nunn. At 19, Dorsey was given a life sentence. Over the next 11 years, Dorsey would be exposed to violence, abuse, and the political education that would awaken in him a lifelong desire to fight our prison system. Today, Hunter talks with Dorsey about his new book, What Kind of Bird Can’t Fly to discuss his lifetime of organizing for the rights of the current and formerly incarcerated. 
     
    Guests:
    Dorsey Nunn, Executive Director Legal Services for Prisoners with Children, Co-Founder All of Us or None, Co-Founder Formerly Incarcerated Convicted People and Family Movement
     
    Resources:
     Order the Book Here
    https://www.amazon.com/What-Kind-Bird-Cant-Fly/dp/1597146323
    Legal Services for Prisoners with Children
    https://prisonerswithchildren.org/staff-and-board/
    All of Us or None
    https://prisonerswithchildren.org/about-aouon/
     
     
    Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
    Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 
    Instagram
    @PublicDefenselessPodcast
    Twitter                                                                
    @PDefenselessPod
    www.publicdefenseless.com 
    Subscribe to the Patron
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    • 1 hr 1 min
    230: The Voices of Victims and Survivors that Alabama Ignores and Neglects w/Leah Nelson and Callie Greer

    230: The Voices of Victims and Survivors that Alabama Ignores and Neglects w/Leah Nelson and Callie Greer

    Today, Hunter is joined once again by Leah Nelson of Alabama Appleseed. This time, they are joined by Callie Greer, a Community Navigator at Appleseed, to discuss Appleseed’s Afterward. This powerful report sought out to hear from victims and survivors of violence. As is often said on the show, the criminal legal system does a poor job of providing for the needs of all survivors of violence. In fact, the system often perpetuates the harm of those who need help following the tragic events in their life. By going to communities across Alabama, Appleseed hoped to capture the voice of so many people who want need more than just a criminal punishment to be made whole.
     
     
    Guests:
    Leah Nelson, Research Director, Alabama Appleseed
    Callie Greer, Community Navigator, Alabama Appleseed
     
    Resources:
    Read Afterward Here
    https://alabamaappleseed.org/afterward/
    Alabama Appleseed
    https://alabamaappleseed.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
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    • 1 hr 2 min
    229: From a 25% Vacancy Rate to Nearly Zero, How the Montana Public Defender System Came Back from the Brink w/Brett Schandelson

    229: From a 25% Vacancy Rate to Nearly Zero, How the Montana Public Defender System Came Back from the Brink w/Brett Schandelson

    Today, Hunter is once again joined by Brett Schandelson, the Director of the Montana Office of the State Public Defender. Last time he was one, we discussed his efforts to make Public Defense policy in Montana driven by data. Today, we discuss how those efforts have drastically turned the state system around. Specifically, Brett details how doing a better job of tracking cases and sticking to a workload standard has reduced turnover and helped retain Public Defenders throughout the state.
    Guests:
    Brett Schandelson, Director, Montana Office of the State Public Defender
     
    Resources:
    Office of the State Public Defender
    https://publicdefender.mt.gov/
    Agenda-DIBC-12-13-2023.pdf (mt.gov)

    61080-OPD-QFR-Dec2023.pdf (mt.gov)

    Quick video on the OPD Quarterly Update (at meeting start)

    Brett’s presentation 12/13/23 IBC OPD Section

    Materials
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Narrative-Response.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Fees-Assessed-and-Paid.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Ethical-Case-Management.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-FTE-Allocation.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Fees-Assessed-Q1-FY24.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Contractor-Capital-Hours-Q1-FY24.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Number-of-Matters-by-FTE-and-Contractors-Q1-FY24.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Number-of-Matters-Without-MCA-Violations-Q1-FY24.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-Active-Matters-and-Weights-December-7-2023.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-HB-190-Annual-Plan-FY24.pdf
    https://leg.mt.gov/content/Publications/fiscal/2025-Biennium/Section-D/Interim/OPD-IBC-Update-Dec2023.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
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    • 1 hr 26 min

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