Public Defenseless Hunter Parnell

Today, Hunter sat down for a powerful conversation with Scarlett Lewis. Scarlett’s son Jesse Lewis was one of the children murdered in the Sandy Hook school shooting. In the wake of this tragedy, Scarlett grappled with the grief, sadness, and anger that any person would face. Yet, Scarlett wanted to choose a different path than anger. So Scarlett founded the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement with the goal of teaching children social-emotional learning strategies to try and address violence at its roots.
 
Guests:
Scarlett Lewis, Founder, Jesse Lewis Choose Love Movement
 
 
Resources:
Choose Love Movement Socials
https://chooselovemovement.org/
https://x.com/ChooseLoveM
https://www.facebook.com/JLChooseLove
https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-jesse-lewis-choose-love-foundation/
https://www.instagram.com/chooselovemovement/
https://www.youtube.com/user/chooselovefoundation
Contact Scarlett
https://x.com/scarlettmlewis?lang=en
A GOP Texas school board member campaigned against schools indoctrinating kids. Then she read the curriculum. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/05/15/texas-granbury-isd-school-board-courtney-gore/
 
 
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 *Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*

Today, Hunter is joined by Chesa Boudin, the former District Attorney of San Francisco, to discuss his transition from public defender to prosecutor and the challenges he faced in trying to make systemic change. He shares examples of cases where he felt limited in his ability to create meaningful impact as a public defender, leading him to pursue a career in prosecution. Boudin also discusses the difficulties of implementing progressive policies within a prosecutor's office, including the resistance from the old guard and the limitations imposed by labor rules. They highlight how police departments and unions can undermine democracy at the local level and the challenges faced by progressive prosecutors. The discussion also touches on the difficulty of messaging and getting voters on board with criminal justice reform.
 
Guests:
Chesa Boudin, Executive Director, Criminal Law and Justice Center, Berkley Law
 
Resources:
Chesa’s Faculty Page
https://www.law.berkeley.edu/our-faculty/faculty-profiles/chesa-boudin/
Follow Chesa on Twitter
https://x.com/chesaboudin?lang=en
Eric Salwell on Prosecutors
https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/this-is-not-normal-swalwell-calls-out-soft-on-violent-crime-prosecutors-in-tweet/
Reports on Crime in California
https://www.cjcj.org/reports-publications?page=4
 
 
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
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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*

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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@PublicDefenselessPodcast
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@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.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*

Today, Hunter sat down with once again with Travis Finck, the Executive Director of the North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents. This time, we discuss the precarious place that Public Defense is in the state. With major staffing shortfalls, the full time Public Defenders have massive vacancy rates, and with low contract pay, there are only so many private counsels willing to take on attorneys. What can be done to avert a crisis?  Hopefully it starts with the legislatures recent realization that there just might be a crisis if they continue to do nothing.
 
Guests:
Travis Finck, Executive Director, North Dakota Commission on Legal Counsel for Indigents
Resources:
Link to Legislative Meeting with Video, Presentation and Report (video starts at 2:28)
https://ndlegis.gov/events/2024/03/07/judiciary-committee

News Coverage of the Issues
https://northdakotamonitor.com/2024/03/14/public-defenders-underpaid-overworked-north-dakota-report-says/
https://bismarcktribune.com/news/state-regional/crime-courts/public-defenders-underpaid-overworked-north-dakota-report-says/article_76910028-f819-11ee-a575-8f6da532994a.html
ND CLCI Website
https://www.indigents.nd.gov/
 
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 
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www.publicdefenseless.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*

Today, Hunter sat down with Grant Miller a Utah Public Defender running for Utah House District 24. Throughout the course of the show, Hunter and numerous guests have discussed the importance of getting the public defender experience into legislatures around the country. Part of the reason our laws are so skewed towards police and prosecutors is because police and prosecutors drastically outnumber the public defenders in the legislature. Grant aims to change that with a campaign that revolves around injecting the humanity that public defenders use in their daily fights for their clients.
 
Guests:
Grant Miller, Public Defender and Candidate for Utah House District 24, Salt Lake City
Resources:
Grants Contacts and Websites
https://www.grantmillerforhouse24.com/
https://www.instagram.com/grantistheguy/
https://x.com/grantistheguy_
https://www.linkedin.com/in/grant-miller-955700b0/
Secure a Ballot in Utah
https://vote.utah.gov/learn-about-voting-by-mail-and-absentee-voting/
Election Day Vote Centers Salt Lake City
https://slco.org/clerk/elections/voting-in-person/election-day-vote-centers/
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 
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@PublicDefenselessPodcast
Twitter                                                                
@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.com 
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www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
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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*

Today, Hunter sat down with Duci Goncalves and Lael Chester to discuss how Massachusetts has started to reimagine how the criminal legal system treats emerging adults. As most of us remember, we didn’t always make the best choices as children, and that questionable decision making didn’t just improve the moment we turned 18. Yet in the criminal legal system, 18 is treated as a magic number where suddenly we assume you are a fully developed adult. With new brain science, we understand that 18 is not some magic number, and those between the ages of 18-25 still have a developing brain. To adhere to our understanding of modern brain science, Massachusetts is setting out on a new path to how the legal system handles emerging adult offenders.
 
Guests:
Duci Goncalves, Deputy Chief Counsel, Youth Advocacy Division, Committee For Public Counsel Services, Massachusetts
Lael Chester, Director, Emerging Adult Justice Project, Columbia University Justice Lab
 
Resources:
Lael’s Faculty Page
https://justicelab.columbia.edu/people/lael-chester
Massachusetts Changes LWOP for Emerging Adults
https://www.bostonpoliticalreview.org/post/mass-supreme-court-raises-life-without-parole-sentencing-from-18-to-21#:~:text=January%2015%2C%202024%2C%20marked%20a,sent%20waves%20throughout%20the%20nation.
Commonwealth v Robinson
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703587.html
Commonwealth v Mattis
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/ma-supreme-judicial-court/115703895.html
Emerging Adult Innovation with CPCS
a) Website page on the national EAJ Developmental Framework project: https://www.eajustice.org/ea-developmental-framework
b) Announcement of the launch of the project: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5c6458c07788975dfd586d90/t/642b478230438b045ee02455/1680557954756/Columbia+Justice+Lab+Announcement+of+EAJ+Innovation+Sites+3.31.23.pdf
c) JJIE article: https://jjie.org/2023/05/11/1442839/
Emerging Adult Information
https://www.zocalopublicsquare.org/2021/07/22/reimagine-juvenile-justice-emerging-adults-gen-z/ideas/essay/
Raise the Age Campaign
 https://www.raisetheagema.org/
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                            
Publicdefenseless@gmail.com 
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@PublicDefenselessPodcast
Twitter                                                                
@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.com 
Subscribe to the Patron
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
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 *Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorado Office of the State Public Defender*