Public Defenseless Podcast

Today, I spoke w/Travis Fink, Exec Dir of North Dakota's Public Defense Commission. Recently, the Public Defender system had a 40% vacancy rate & Travis drafted a letter to stop taking new cases. What did the legislature do to avoid this Public Defender crisis.
open.spotify.com/episode/5IXE...

🧵 Sixty years after the Voting Rights Act, we're still fighting for the ballot. ⚖️

In their op-ed, attorneys Ramon de la Cabada of Miami & Seth Chazin of Albany, CA, co-chairs of @nacdl.org's Criminalization of Voting Rights Committee, argue that modern tactics are disenfranchising millions.

Today, I spoke w/New Mexico Chief Public Defendee Ben Baur. 3 years ago, a study of NM public defense found they had 1/3rd the PDs then need to meet their workloads demands. Sadly, the problem persists. Will NM be the next state where PDs stop accepting new cases?

open.spotify.com/episode/5R2F...

Thousands Of California Police Records Now Publicly Available | KQED For the first time, you can look up serious use of force and police misconduct incidents in California.

Transparency milestone for police accountability in California.

You can now look up incidents of use of force & police misconduct in a free database, making once confidential records from 12,000 cases by 700 law enforcement & oversight agencies publicly available

Reports @kqednews.kqed.org

Data for Defenders Bringing Social Science into the Courtroom

New @umichlaw.bsky.social #DataforDefenders brief arguing that even frequent drug use does not necessarily indicate a substance abuse disorder and should not be treated as if it does in family and/or criminal proceedings: www.datafordefenders.org

🧵 A new public database, the Police Records Access Project, now makes 1.5 million pages of public records on police use of force and misconduct in California searchable for the first time.

The project was led by @berkeleyjournalism.bsky.social, @ucbids.bsky.social, and Stanford's Big Local News.

Forced Labor Continues in Colorado, Years After Vote to End Prison Slavery  Coloradans voted in 2018 to amend their state constitution to ban forced labor in prison. Years later, incarcerated people are still being punished for refusing work assignments.

In some ways, Colorado’s Amendment A only abolished prison slavery on paper. That’s because the Colorado Department of Corrections has continued to punish incarcerated people who refuse to work.

boltsmag.org/colorad...

Today, I spoke w/Tim Ray Johnson, Amanda Ulrich, & Dennis Calhoun. Dennis was found not guilty by reason of insanity & spent 17 years in a mental health facility for a crime with a max punishment of 4 years.

open.spotify.com/episode/1Jxz...

Now That They’re Free, Venezuelan Men Want the World to Know What They Endured in CECOT Venezuelan men deported by the Trump administration say they endured months of physical and mental abuse inside a Salvadoran prison. Though happy to be home, they say the fact that they were released ...

The terror began immediately. Salvadoran guards beat them with their fists, boots and batons, shot them with rubber pellets, and forced them to lick other men's backs.

What happened when we sent 230+ Venezuelans to a prison known for human rights abuses.

www.propublica.org/article/vene...

Today, I spoke w/Nat Jacob, Elizabeth Mustin, and Rachel Cortez of the Washington Office of Public Defense to learn how they are working to recruit and retain Public Defenders in rural parts of the state.

open.spotify.com/episode/5Vdg...

Ted Cruz pushes legislation to use RICO to target activist groups Cruz introduced a bill that adds "rioting" to the list of activities prohibited by the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Ted Cruz wants to be able to charge protester organizers under RICO... www.houstonchronicle.com/politics/art...

Forthcoming March 2026

Today, I spoke w Amanda Bass Castro Alves about Tremane Wood. In 2004, Wood was convicted of felony murder & given a death sentence. His brother, who admitted to doing the killing, got a life sentence. Amanda explains how terrible lawyering sent Tremane to death row.
open.spotify.com/episode/6Rka...

Today, I spoke w/Erica Nichols Cook about the wrongful conviction of Jerry Mark. At Mark's trial, the state used mountains of "evidence" that courts now consider to be invalid, and evidence tells us he most likely wasn't even in Iowa when the crime was committed.

open.spotify.com/episode/0pwa...

Huge thx to @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social for featuring our innovative SF Public Defenders in *3* recent episodes!
🔹Hayley Upshaw: The devastating impact of crimmigration on kids
🔹Angela Chan: The legacy of CA sanctuary laws
🔹Sujung Kim & Lilah Wolf: A groundbreaking RJA win
👉👉publicdefenseless.com

375 | The Law Clinic Helping Public Defenders Fight Back Against New Police Technology w/Megan Graham Public Defenseless · Episode

ICYMI: Last week, I had a great conversation on @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social about the work the Technology Law Clinic is doing at Iowa Law and how tech lawyers can collaborate with public defenders to amplify expertise. Check it out!

New study: State medical examiners wrongly excused homicides committed by Maryland police officers After the Derek Chauvin trial, the state ordered an audit of autopsies done on people who had died in police custody. The results are disturbing.

New at The Watch:

An audit found 36 deaths in police custody that should have been classified as homicides, but that Maryland medical examiners classified as something else. Their failure to call the deaths homicides precluded any further investigation of the officers involved.

Yeah I obviously dont love the AG work upholding the states regs, but I do think its important to see the civil side enforcement + how these can be litigated with Bruen and Rahimi.

Today, I spoke w/Prof @meganwalshgvp.bsky.social & Anthony Benz about the gun violence prevention clinic at the U of Minnesota Law School. By pursuing civil litigation against unlawful sellers, they hope to prevent gun violence w/o increasing criminal prosecutions

open.spotify.com/episode/5Ha3...

This Illinois Reform May Bring Relief to Overworked Public Defenders Public defenders have "nowhere to go for help," at the mercy of floundering local budgets and local prosecutors’ policy swings. Illinois is creating a statewide office to change that.

“You want your public defender system to be strong. That is how we get to justice and make sure we don’t make mistakes,” says Eric Rinehart, the chief prosecutor of Illinois’ Lake County.

boltsmag.org/illinoi...

Absolutely, there's so much hidden tech used by police and prosecutors that can only be uncovered by asking that question!!

375 | The Law Clinic Helping Public Defenders Fight Back Against New Police Technology w/Megan Graham Public Defenseless · Episode

Today, I spoke with Iowa Clinical Law Professor @megankgraham.bsky.social At her clinic, Megan works with Public Defender offices to identify and challenge a wide array of new technologies police and prosecutors are using in the criminal legal system.

open.spotify.com/episode/4tzm...

375 | The Law Clinic Helping Public Defenders Fight Back Against New Police Technology w/Megan Graham Podcast Episode · Public Defenseless · 07/15/2025 · 1h 6m

I had a very fun conversation on @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social about the Iowa Tech Law Clinic's work, emerging policing tech, and trying to support public defenders' work when you're not a line defender. Check it out!

A month ago they warned us the money for federal defense attorneys was drying up. Now it's officially gone.

Expect motions to dismiss

@bloomberg.com

Thanks to @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social for having me on your podcast to talk about the @iceoutofca.bsky.social movement to make California a Sanctuary state under Trump 1.0 and the importance of building on these laws.

California Bill Seeks to End Flat-Fee Contracts for Indigent Defense - Davis Vanguard AB 690, a bill aimed at ending the use of privatized flat-fee contracts for indigent defense services in California, has passed the Senate Public Safety Committee and now heads to the Senate Appropria...

New Mexico has a simular flat fee system, paying only $900 to defend a 1st degree felony carrying 18 years in prison

New bill would end flat-fee contracts for indigent defense services in California - a payment model incentivizing rushed plea deals, excessive caseloads, & ineffective representation

Cops’ favorite AI tool automatically deletes evidence of when AI was used AI police tool is designed to avoid accountability, watchdog says.

EFF has talked to public defenders who worry how the proliferation of AI-generated police reports is "going to affect cross-examination" by potentially giving cops an easy scapegoat when accused of lying on the stand, EFF’s @mguariglia.bsky.social told @arstechnica.com.

371 | The Cruelty Kids Face at the Intersection of Criminal and Immigration Law w/Claire Valentin and Hayley Upshaw Public Defenseless · Episode

The cruel intersection of immigration and criminal law impacting children in America

@pdefenselesspod.bsky.social

open.spotify.com/episode/2YOk...

Gauging the impact of the public defender work stoppage Without attorneys available to be appointed by Massachusetts courts to indigent defendants, some have been released this week. We go over everything to know.

Massachusetts public defenders refusing to take more cases because of lack of adequate funding in

There is always enough money for cops, but the right to a lawyer is a Constitutional right that is consistently operaterating on a shoestring budget

Reports @nbcboston.com

Defendants released in Mass. as pay dispute with public defenders remains unresolved The first four defendants who didn't have legal representation amid a public defender strike were released Monday. Their release follows a ruling by the state's highest court to implement a requiremen...

When you don't have public defenders the court is required to release people who don't have lawyers from jail

Jobs required by the Constitution should be budget priorities to ensure public safety

Reports @wbur.org

www.wbur.org/news/2025/07...