Public Defenseless Podcast

Public Defenseless Podcast

@pdefenselesspod.bsky.social

Podcast covering issues in Public Defense, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, and what we can do to improve our criminal legal system

4,204 Followers 262 Following 227 Posts Joined Aug 2024
3 hours ago
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Alameda County public defender challenges judge over lack of Black jurors Last week, 85 people filed into Alameda County Superior Court in downtown Oakland. They’d been called to serve as jurors for a case in which the defendant, an Oakland woman named Eboni Route, faces mi...

This prosecutor objecting to Brendon's sane, reasonable request for basic equity is so embarrassing for them. Like how do you stand up and take the position "no let's not spend an extra couple of hours to eliminate a clear appearance of racial bias."

apnews.com/article/juri...

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18 hours ago
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Today, I spoke w @profferguson.bsky.social about his new book, Your Data Will Be Used Against You. In it, Andrew details how mass surveillance technology is spreading throughout America, why that tech is spreading, and what we can do to protect our right to privacy.

open.spotify.com/episode/3RO0...

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22 hours ago

Very minimally but from what I understand, seems like similar to what happened with the Cop City prosecutions

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1 day ago
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Author’s copies arrived. New readers are excited (although Pretzel liked the box more than the books). #BookSky

Still 30% off preorder (code NYUAU30) nyupress.org/978147983829...

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1 day ago
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453 | How America's Mass Surveillance State is Making it More Likely that Your Data Will be Used Against You w/Andrew Ferguson Podcast Episode · Public Defenseless · March 10 · 57m

If you are not listening to the
@pdefenselesspod.bsky.social podcast you are missing out, and not just because this time he is discussing “Your Data Will Be Used Against You.” #BookSky #PublicDefense #Law

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

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2 days ago

New case on public defender caseload refusal: In State Public Defender v. Iowa Dist Ct for Scott Cty, Iowa Supreme Ct held that when local office represents, after consideration of staffing and caseloads, that it is ethically unable to accept additional appointments, courts must be deferential. /1

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2 days ago

Here's my conversation with @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social about criminal discovery and the "shadow" (👻👻!) cast by the moribund constitutional Brady doctrine.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/4...

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2 days ago
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MDefenders | University of Michigan Law School MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student organization as well as a network of courses, programming, and resources that support public defense education at Michigan Law and beyond. Founded in 2014, MD...

Public defense is a calling—and a craft. Michigan Law’s MDefenders program trains student defenders to be client-centered, zealous advocates who can raise the level of representation wherever they go. michigan.law.umich.edu/mdefenders

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4 days ago
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Bodycam video contradicts ICE claims in fatal shooting of U.S. citizen Ruben Ray Martinez in Texas Video of last year's fatal shooting of Ruben Ray Martinez obtained by CBS News appears to contradict claims that Martinez was shot by an ICE agent because he "accelerated" and "intentionally ran over"...

DHS claimed "an ICE agent had fired 'defensive shots' into Martinez's vehicle after Martinez 'intentionally ran over' another agent."

But body cam video now "shows that Martinez's vehicle, a blue Ford Fusion, was stationary or going at a very low rate of speed when he was fatally shot."

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5 days ago
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5 days ago
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Policing from the sky: Santa Fe police testing 'drone as first responder' future Santa Fe police hope to adopt the "drone as first responder" concept, a program that has proliferated around the country.

Drones in Santa Fe. Folks might want to read “Your Data Will Be Used Against You” as you make your choices about whether to continue the program.

www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_n...

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5 days ago
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Today, I spoke w/Frayla Tarpinian, the Executive Director of the Maine Commission on Public Defense Services, about how an impending budget shortfall could lead to disaster for Public Defense in the state.

open.spotify.com/episode/4v7A...

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5 days ago
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ICE detains reporter Estefany Rodríguez in Nashville - Nashville Banner Reporter Estefany Rodríguez, detained by ICE with no arrest warrant, may face deportation. Her attorneys seek immediate review of the legality of her case.

ICE has arrested and detained a Nashville journalist who reported stories critical of ICE. She’s married to a U.S. citizen and has been seeking asylum here after fleeing death threats in Colombia because of her journalism there.

They’ve already sent her to Louisiana.

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1 week ago
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Artist in Residence Fellowship 2026 - Civil Rights Corps Civil Rights Corps is excited to announce the launch of its 2026 Artist in Residence fellowship. Each year, a groundbreaking visual artist whose work urgently confronts the subject matter of our civil...

We are opening up our amazing Artist in Residence fellowship again. If you know any formerly incarcerated artists or artists otherwise directly impacted by state repression, please share. It's an incredible opportunity with a wonderful organization. civilrightscorps.org/artist-in-re...

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1 week ago
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Florence ICE detainee dead after untreated tooth infection, official says An ICE detainee, who had been at a Florence detention center for four months, died Monday following an untreated tooth infection.

Emmanuel Damas, 56, died in ICE custody on Monday. Damas came to the US from Haiti seeking asylum. After six months in ICE custody—the last four at CoreCivic's Florence Correctional Center—he died from complications from a tooth infection, according to ICE. A tooth infection. He's death number nine.

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1 week ago
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Additionally, @rebeccawallace.bsky.social described some of the positive reforms that might be coming to Colorado's municipal court system and the state's cruel, senseless effort to solve homelessness through incarceration

open.spotify.com/episode/6QbR...

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1 week ago
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Today, I spoke w @rebeccawallace.bsky.social of @cofreedomfund.bsky.social & Kyle Giddings of @ccjrc.bsky.social to explain how Colorado's conservative, tough on crime coalition influences CO's criminal justice policy despite the dems controlling all 3 branches.

open.spotify.com/episode/6QbR...

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1 week ago
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CBP Tapped Into the Online Advertising Ecosystem To Track Peoples’ Movements An internal DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows for the first time CBP used location data sourced from the online advertising industry to track phone locations. ICE has bought access to similar t...

SCOOP: An internal DHS document obtained by 404 Media shows for the first time CBP used location data sourced from the online advertising industry to track phone locations.

This surveillance can happen through all sorts of apps, such as video games, news apps, weather trackers, and dating apps.

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1 week ago
CQ Researcher - Public Defenders In mid-January, Roland Harper sat before a judge in the San Francisco Hall of Justice. Without the means to hire a private lawyer, Harper awaited being assigned a public defender. Every day, a few dozen people pass through the city’s central justice building for the same reason.

I wrote a very long report about how public defenders are constantly underfunded that delves into the ongoing debates within the legal community about how to ensure that people charged with crimes are offered high quality representation.

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1 week ago

This report does a fantastic job of documenting a ridiculous crisis - there are only two ways out, arrest fewer people or hire more public defenders. Jdxs are going to have to do one or the other and continuing to drag their feet is only going to make the situation worse.

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1 week ago
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NYPD Still Illegally Stopping New Yorkers 12 Years After Court Ruling, Monitor Finds Illegal stops, missing paperwork and weak discipline remain widespread despite federal oversight.

Twelve years later, the NYPD is still not in compliance with the court orders from Floyd v. New York, the lawsuit that found the city's stop-and-frisk practices unconstitutional (by @reuvenblau.bsky.social, @thecity.nyc) www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/26/n...

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1 week ago

Counter point: go read some of the comments on my DHS posts. People be saying wiiiiiiiilllldd stuff

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1 week ago
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Today, I spoke w/Maggie Bott and Bob Kolstad, Hennepin County Public Defenders, and Brandon Garcia, a policy aide to Minneapolis City Council President Elliot Paige to discuss how the people of Minneapolis organized to resist DHS's occupation of the city.

open.spotify.com/episode/2Qf9...

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2 weeks ago

Drug and alcohol testing is almost always a condition of probation. For most, this doesn't aid rehabilitation - it can be detrimental to it. Use this brief to urge the court to take a more individualized approach to your client's supervision! datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...

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2 weeks ago
The House has passed
* HB637 Eliminate Felony Charge for Possession of Drug Residue
* HB246 Protect People with ID/DD and Mental Health Disorders  
* HB 331 Deferred Dismissals
* HB1070 Eliminate the Prejudicial Use of Priors at Trial
* HB245 Preserve Access to Diversion
* HB118 Fix Discovery
* HB127 CAFA
* HB1084 VLDS
* HB933 FTAs
* HB244 Align Class 5 & 6 Robbery Offenses with the Rest of the Code
* HB172 Allow Defendants to Withdraw Requests for Jury Sentencing and Ask Jurors About Potential Sentences
* HB489 Ensure Confidentiality of Restorative Justice Practices
* HB1413 Probation Fix–Uphold Reforms for Technical Violations of Probation
* HB1411 Mental Health Evidence Fix
* HB520 OCRA
* HB441 JIRC Reform
* Alt Crisis Response

The Senate has passed
* SB23 Ban 4A Waivers
* SB335 Protect People with ID/DD and Mental Health Disorders
* SB24 Fix Discovery 
* SB480 VLDS
* SB283 FTAs 
* SB230 Reverse Bad SCOVA Expungement Cases
* SB82 OCRA
* Alt Crisis Response

LATE & BREAKING: An epic 18.5 of 20 of Justice Forward Virginia’s CJR legislative priorities have passed one chamber of the VA General Assembly and are headed to the other chamber at Crossover! Let’s go!!! You can see a detailed breakdown here justiceforwardva.com/2026-priorit... #VALeg

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2 weeks ago
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ICE says Cuban detainee’s death from use of force His death is the first homicide in ICE custody in recent history, experts said. It comes after the deadliest year in ICE detention in decades and six deaths in six weeks at Texas facilities.

The official ICE explanation: the detainee was murdered in order to prevent him from committing suicide. ICE officials this week reported that the death of a 55-yr-old Cuban man at the El Paso concentration camp was the result of the staff’s “spontaneous use of force” to “prevent harm.””

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2 weeks ago

This was a great conversation about how the changes made to policing between 1898 and 1920 gave us the modern world.

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2 weeks ago
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Today, I spoke w/ @mguariglia.bsky.social about his book Police and the Empire City. In it, Matthew details the early history of the New York Police Department. By understanding this history, we can better understand why the modern NYPD operates as it does.

open.spotify.com/episode/70E3...

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2 weeks ago

Thanks for tagging! Looks really interesting!!

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2 weeks ago
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Public Defender Training Institute | University of Michigan Law School

Future public defenders: There’s an intensive, skills-based immersion into indigent defense at Michigan Law—taught by current/former defenders (plus alumni in the field). To learn more, check out michigan.law.umich.edu/public-defen.... #PublicDefense #MichiganLaw

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