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PODCAST

Public Defenseless

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

government politics

All Episodes

52:13

358 | Why has the San Francisco Public Defender...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/23

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Mano Raju, the Elected Chief Public Defender in San Francisco. In the past couple of weeks, Mano made the difficult decision to stop accepting new case assignments one day a week. Thanks to the tough on crime policies of DA Brooke Jenkins and Prop 36, the workloads for San Francisco Public Defenders have reach unsustainable numbers. How did we get here, what comes next, and will this be a harbinger of things to come in California? All that and more on today’s

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01:06:14

357 | Why are Minnesota Public Defenders Trying to...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/22

Today, Hunter was joined by Bob Kolstad, Maggie Bott, and Olivia Henstein to discuss why they are pushing Minnesota Public Defenders to create a new, independent union. In the past few years, the current union, organize under Teamsters, was able to secure massive salary raises for Public Defenders around the state. However, that strike threat was built without much help or support from the leadership of the Teamster’s union. As a result, rank and file members, public defenders and the staff of the

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01:04:53

356 | How the Chief Public Defender of Louisiana is...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/20

Today, Hunter was joined by longtime Louisiana Criminal Defense Lawyer and President of the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer, Jim Boren. Over the past year, Hunter has discussed the erosion of public defender independence since Remy Starns became the chief public defender of the state. Now, Remy Starns is slated to fire five chief public defenders from around the state who opposed some of the policies that consolidated power into his hands. Today’s episode is all about how this has

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01:29:19

355 | How Missouri Public Defenders are Leading the...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/15

Today, Hunter was joined by a whole host of characters from the Missouri Public Defender System. When Hunter last looked into Missouri Public Defense, he spoke with Annie Legomsky to discuss the remarkable project of implementing Holistic Defense statewide. As one of the only statewide systems with holistic defense, Missouri stands as a great example of how finding creative sources of funding can allow Public Defenders to demonstrate to legislators the potential Public Defense has to improve the

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01:08:41

354 | With so Many Good Things Happening in...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/13

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Anthony Benedetti, Chief Counsel of the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services. This time, Hunter and Anthony dive into what can be done about the low hourly rates for CPCS’s contract counsel and how recent courage from the bench and the state house gives them hope that those pay increases are in fact possible. Guest Anthony Benedetti, Chief Counsel, Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services Resources: CPCS Website

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01:02:43

353 | After 18 Years in Prison, How One Man is Still...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/08

Today, Hunter was joined by Ivery Dorsey, a man who for the last 18 years was incarcerated for a homicide he did not commit. On a previous episode on the show, Hunter spoke with one of the students, Kerrie Liang, who have been fighting to prove Ivery’s innocence, but today, Ivery joins the show to tell his story. From the representation he received, the conditions of his confinement, and how he hopes to pursue his dreams of shoe design and music production, Ivery's hope for a better future is

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01:00:03

352 | How Public Defense in Harris County Texas...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/06

Today, Hunter spoke with Harris County, Texas Chief Public Defender Alex Bunin. Just over a decade ago, Public Defense in Harris County looked like it did in most of the state. A group of private defense counsel contracted with the county to provide Public Defense. Unfortunately, Harris County was not spared of the many, well documented issues, with a primarily privately contracted public defense system. Then the county established the Public Defender Office, and since then, Alex and his team have

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47:44

351 | How Flat-Fee Contracts Undermine the Right to...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/05/01

Today, Hunter sat with Josh Occhiogrosso-Schwartz, a Principal at the Wren Collective, to discuss their recent report on flat rate Public Defender contracts in California. Long time listeners of the show will recall that the American Bar Association discourages the use of flat rate fees because of the negative economic incentive it creates for the attorneys working under those contracts. In what will come as a surprise to no one who studies Public Defense, the Wren Collective examined the 24

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01:04:04

350 | The Tech Company Helping Public Defenders Track...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/29

Today, Hunter spoke with Julie Ciccolini, the CEO of Techtivist. When she was working as a paralegal at the NY Legal Aid Society, Julie, like so many in a Public Defender Office, realized that there was immense amounts of data on police misconduct that was going un-used. So, Julie helped to set up a database that allowed Public Defenders to track and use this data in their cases. Realizing that this issue extended far beyond New York, Julie founded Techtivist as a way to help Public Defenders set

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01:13:21

349 | The ACLU Lawsuit Helping to Radically Reimagine...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/24

Today, Hunter sat down with Zachary Heiden, Carol Garvan, and Professor Eve Primus to discuss the ACLU of Maine’s major victory in the fight to change Maine’s Public Defense. Since the Sixth Amendment Center’s report came out years ago, one thing was clear about Public Defense in Maine: it was in a state of crisis. Now, there finally appears to be a path out of the crisis. Thanks in part to the lawsuit filed by the ACLU of Maine, the courage of public defenders, the judiciary, and the delayed but

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01:14:09

RE-RELEASE: Secrets of the Killing State: How the...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/23

Today, Hunter is Re-Releasing his episode with Professor of Law Corinna Lain becuase her book, Secretes of the Killing State: The Untold Story of Lethal Injection, is now available! If you haven't listened already or picked up a copy of the book, now is great time to remember the hisotry of lethal injection and what that history means for the death peanlty today! https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Killing-State-Untold-Injection/dp/1479832960 Today, Hunter spoke with Law Professor Corinna Lain to

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01:22:33

348 | How Prosecutors, Cops, and an ICE Agent...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/22

Today, Hunter spoke Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyer Murat Erkan. Recently, Murat represented Wilson Martell-Lebron in a criminal trial in Boston Municipal Court. Martell-Lebron faced two felony charges related to accusations that he lied on his driver’s license application. At its core, this case was an accusation that Martell-Lebron was an undocumented immigrant. However, Martell-Lebron never got to vindicate his innocence because the Suffolk County DA, the police involved in the case, and

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59:30

347 | How Participatory Defense has and can help...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/17

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

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01:20:02

346 | The Revival of Public Defense in Santa Cruz...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/15

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 the

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01:00:22

345 | Will Governor Jeff Landry's Push to Execute...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/10

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

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01:07:08

344 | When Public Defenders Support Community...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/08

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

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01:06:49

343 | How the Neglect and Indifference of the...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/03

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

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01:01:27

342 | What was Revealed about the Death Penalty When...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/04/01

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 own

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01:31:26

341 | Why did a Judge Stop a Defense Lawyer from...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/03/27

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, which

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01:06:35

340 | The Amendment to Louisiana's Constitution that...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/03/25

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 adult

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