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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

01:05:38

412 | How Pre-Trial Services Can Reduce Incarceration...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/30

Today, Hunter spoke with David Bennett, a veteran in the field of pretrial services. They discuss the evolution of pretrial services, the challenges of jail overcrowding, and the misconceptions surrounding pretrial programs. David shares insights on the importance of community support, risk assessment, and the need for effective alternatives to electronic monitoring. The conversation highlights the critical role of rehabilitation and support services in the criminal justice system, emphasizing the

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01:29:29

411 | How Private Criminal Defense Lawyers Are Trying...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/29

Today, Hunter spoke with three amazing guests from Colorado's Office of Alternate Defense Counsel. Kristin Ladd, Blue Daniels, and Mesa Anderson joined the show to discuss the Greater Colorado Fellowship. This program aims to place lawyers in rural parts of the state to serve as private criminal defense lawyers who handle public defender cases. Guest: Kristin Ladd, Attorney Development Coordinator, Office of Alternate Defense Counsel, Colorado Mesa Anderson, Greater Colorado Fellow, Western

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01:03:16

410 | How to Meet the Needs of Incarcerated Women...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/28

In this conversation, Hunter Parnell speaks with criminologist Emily about the unique challenges faced by justice-involved women. They discuss the importance of culturally competent tools and resources, the need for gender-specific risk assessment tools, and the impact of trauma and domestic violence on women's pathways to crime. Emily emphasizes the necessity of individualized approaches in the criminal justice system and the importance of listening to the voices of those affected. The

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01:05:12

409 | How Will Maryland Public Defense Handle It's...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/23

Today, Hunter spoke with Natasha Dartigue, the Chief Public Defender of the Maryland Office of Public Defense. This time, Natasha and Hunter spoke about the workload crisis facing the state and a slate of new criminal legal policies that are pushing Maryland in a better direction. Guest: Natasha Dartigue, Chief Public Defender, Maryland Resources: Maryland Public Defender https://opd.state.md.us/ Immigration (both bills passed and went into effect 6/1/25): Sensitive

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01:26:09

408 | How Georgia's New "Tough on Crime" Laws Could...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/21

Today, Hunter was joined by the Southern Center for Human Right’s Blake Feldman. Hunter and Blake walked through a handful of criminal legal policy changes that recently went into effect in Georgia. Unfortunately, the state continues it’s tough on crime approach that may ultimately lead to more kids in adult court, more adults serving mandatory minimums, and the state further trying to incarcerate it’s way out of societal issues. Guest: Blake Feldman, Senior Policy Counsel, Southern Center for

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01:04:07

407 | How Hennepin County has Expanded the Right to...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/16

Today, Hunter was joined by three guests from Hennepin County’s Adult Representation Services. As has been discussed multiple times on the show, many of the clients that walk into a public defender office have legal needs outside their criminal case. Whether it is in eviction court or family court, our clients often do not have access to counsel in these critical cases. ARS was created to fill the gaps in the access to counsel to ensure people have a fighting chance in their civil legal issues.

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56:39

406 | How the Cook County Prosecutor Has Made it...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/15

Today, Hunter was joined by Journalist Dan Hinkel to discuss his newest piece about the Conviction Integrity Unit in Cook County. While CIUs are an imperfect vessel to right the wrongs of a wrongful conviction, they still serve an essential function when they operate properly. The problem is since Eileen O’Neill Burketook over as the new State Attorney in Cook County the CIU hasn’t exonerated a single person. Dan joins the show to help us understand how that has happened. Guest: Dan Hinkel,

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01:00:38

405 | How The Miami Public Defenders Got Their...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/14

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Carlos Martinez, Chief Public Defender in Miami Dade County. This time, Carlos joined to explain the tech innovations he implemented to get workloads under control, how immigration enforcement is impacting their practice, and the danger of the state pursuing more capital cases. Guest: Carlos Martinez, Chief Public Defender, Miami-Dade County, Florida Resources: Contact OPD Here https://www.pdmiami.com/public-defender/home.page Contact

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02:22:48

404 | How Enforcing Workload Standards Changed the...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/10

Today, Hunter was joined by several amazing public defenders from the Montana Public Defender System. Each one of them joins the show to talk about the truly transformative effects that workload limits have had on the system, what they hope to see continue to improve in the system, and how the work is finally sustainable because they have enforced workload standards. Guest: Brett Schandelson, Chief Public Defender, Montana Office of the State Public Defender David Carter, Managing Attorney,

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53:54

403 | Is this the Start of Public Defense Expanding...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/09

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Andre de Gruy, Mississippi’s State Public Defender. Andre joins the show this time to discuss a new pilot program that aims to provide rural communities full time public defenders. Andre hopes that this programs can be the start of Mississippi finally taking its obligations under Gideon seriously. Guest: Andre de Gruy, The State Public Defender, Mississippi Resources: Read More Here

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01:04:50

402 | Defense Lawyering in the Progressive...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/07

Today, Hunter was joined by Dean Jenny Roberts of Hofstra Law School. On today’s episode, Hunter and Dean Roberts discuss a law review article that Dean Roberts published last year about how public defenders can/should respond to the progressive prosecutors. Guest: Jenny Roberts, Dean, Hofstra Law Resources: Contact Dean Roberts Here https://law.hofstra.edu/jenny-roberts/ Read the Article Here https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4574381 Contact Hunter

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01:08:52

401 | Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/02

Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Joshua Clark Daivs to discuss his new book, Police Against the Movement. In the book, Professor Davis tells the often forgotten story of how police departments surveilled, infiltrated, and sabotaged civil rights movements that challenged the power of police. Guest: Joshua Clark Davis, Professor of History, University of Baltimore Resources: Professor Davis’s Website https://www.joshuaclarkdavis.com/ Get a Copy of The Book

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01:11:00

400 | Why the Lawyers Handling 80% of Massachusetts's...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/10/01

Today, Hunter was joined by Professor Shira Diner to discuss the Bar Advocate work stoppage in the state of Massachusetts. Back in May, the Bar Advocates, the private defense lawyers who handle 80% of Massachusetts’s public defender workload, stopped taking new cases due to the incredibly low hourly rate they are paid. Since then, thousands of people have been left without representation as the courts have been unable to assign cases to attorneys. Now the question is, where does the state go from

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01:00:00

399 | Unequal Scales: California's Investment...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/09/30

Today, Hunter was joined by Caneel Fraser and Tatyana Kaplan of California’s Office of the State Public Defender. The three sat down to discuss an OSPD report, Unequal Scales, to explore how and why Public Defender’s are so underfunded in comparison to prosecutors. Guest: Caneel Fraser, Executive Director, Indigent Defense Improvement Division, California Office of the State Public Defender Tatyana Kaplan, Data Specialist, Indigent Defense Improvement Division, California Office of the State

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01:11:09

398 | How Public Defenders can Combat Copaganda...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/09/25

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Alec Karatkatsanis. This time, Alec is here discussing Copaganda, cop fueled propaganda that shapes the way our society understands crime, the criminal legal system, and most importantly, convinces people that the only way to make our communities safer is by increasing our policing. In his new book, Copaganda, Alec explains how this propaganda is created, how it is laundered through ostensibly liberal media sources, and what we can do about it. Guest: Alec

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01:03:17

397 | The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/09/23

Today, Hunter was joined by John J. Lennon to discuss his new book, The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories that Define Us. John is a currently incarcerated journalist who presents the stories of four men, Michael Shane Hale, Robert Chambers, Milton Jones, and his own, in his book. Each of these men committed murder, but John sets out to tell a more complete picture to try and capture a more comprehensive picture of these men and the system that punishes them. Guest: John J

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01:10:19

396 | What Will it Take to Revive the Jury? w/Will...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/09/18

Today, Hunter was joined by Will Snowden of the Juror Project to discuss how they plan on revitalizing the jury around the country. Guest: Will Snowden, Director, The Juror Project Resources: The Juror Project https://www.thejurorproject.org/ https://www.thejurorproject.org/contact https://www.instagram.com/jurorproject/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/jurorproject/ Contact Hunter Parnell: Publicdefenseless@gmail.com Instagram

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31:46

395 | A New Partners for Justice Toolkit to Help...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/09/17

Today, Hunter was joined once again by Vichal Kumar of Partners for Justice. This time, Vichal joins the show to discuss a new toolkit that Partners for Justice has put together to give Public Defenders resources to up incorporate collaborative Public Defender practices. Guest: Vichal Kumar, Managing Director for Capacity Building, Partners for Justice Resources: Access the Toolkit Here https://www.partnersforjustice.org/toolkit Partners for Justice https://www.partnersforjustice.org/

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57:07

394 | What Can Data Tell us About New York's...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/09/16

Today, Hunter was joined by Michael Rempel and Anna Stenkamp of the Data Collaborative for Justice. They discuss a recent report authored by DCJ about the impacts, or lack thereof, that came from the changes to New York’s discovery laws. *** Correction to the show. The Data Collaborative caught an error in the underlying data related to case processing times in NYC. "Due to an error found in the underlying data, the report and analyses have been updated as of September 2025. There was one

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01:02:17

393 | Ending Isolation: The Case Against Solitary...

Public Defenseless ·

2025/09/11

Today, Hunter was joined by activist, prisoner journalist, and author of Ending Isolation, Christopher Blackwell. On this episode, Chris and Hunter discuss the book, the horrors of solitary confinement, and why the practice needs to end. Guest: Christopher Blackwell, activist, prisoner journalist, and author of Ending Isolation, and executive director of Look 2 Justice Resources: Christopher Blackwell’s website and Socials https://www.christopher-blackwell.com/

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