Public Defenseless Hunter Parnell

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 
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
 *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 
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
 *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 
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
 *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 
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
 *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 once again by University of Michigan Professor of Law Eve Primus. So far, Eve and Hunter have discussed Public Defender Systems, Structures, and how Law Schools can do better at getting students interested in Public Defense. However, today’s conversation is focused on her upcoming law review article about how courts around the country have eroded the famous Miranda warnings and what we can do about it.   
 
 
Guests:
Eve Primus, Professor of Law, University of Michigan
 
 
Resources:
 
The State[s] of Confession Law in a Post-Miranda World:  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4742148
 
The Future of Confession Law: Toward Rules for the Voluntariness Test:  https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2540302
 
 
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
 
 *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 Lucian Dervan, Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Justice Studies at Belmont College and Founding Director of the Plea Bargaining Institute. For more than a decade, Lucian has been at the forefront of uncovering the troubling issues with America’s plea deal driven criminal legal system. Lucian founded the Plea Bargaining Institute in order to bring together the latest and greatest research and caselaw on plea bargaining to help people challenge our plea bargaining system.  
 
Guests:
Lucian Dervan, Professor of Law and Director of Criminal Justice Studies, Belmont College of Law, Founding Director of the Plea Bargaining Institute
 
 
Resources:
Plea Bargaining Institute
https://pleabargaininginstitute.com/
Brady v US
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/397/742/
Lucian’s Faculty Page
https://www.belmont.edu/profiles/lucian-dervan/
14 Principles of Plea Bargaining
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/criminal_justice/publications/criminal-justice-magazine/2024/winter/fourteen-principles-path-forward-plea-bargaining-reform/
Plea Bargaining Study
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1000&context=jclc
Follow Lucian
https://x.com/luciandervan?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
 
 *Any Comments made by Myself are mine and mine alone and do not reflect the views of the Colorao Office of the State Public Defender*