National Public Defense Virtual Conference 2021: Full Schedule

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This is from the 2021 Conference.
For the March 17-19, 2022 Conference
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Click here to purchase individual tickets

4:15pm EDT

Got Trust?

This fast-paced and highly interactive session will introduce participants to Motivational Interviewing (MI) concepts that will help them engage successfully with clients, repair conversational discord, and establish a collaborative climate of trust for an effective working relationship.

This session will not be recorded.

Speakers

Ali Hall

Trainer and Consulting, Ali Hall Training and Consulting

Ali Hall is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT), a MINT Certified Trainer, and an independent consultant and trainer. Ali currently serves on the MINT Board of Directors, focusing on professional skill development for MI practitioners and trainers... Read More →

Thursday March 18, 2021 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT
Room 2

Not recorded

Subject Core Staff, Social Work, Investigation

4:15pm EDT

Analyzing Police Documents

This is a hands-on, audience-participation-necessary presentation designed to help you deconstruct police reports by applying a set of rules to live by. You will be working with Chicago Police Department documents produced in the wake of a police shooting in an el station.

Speakers

John Conroy

Senior Investigator, Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law

John Conroy is the Senior Investigator at the MacArthur Justice Center at Northwestern University School of Law. In his former life, he was an investigative reporter. His articles have been published in many publications, and he is the author of two books, Belfast Diary: War... Read More →

Thursday March 18, 2021 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT
Room 9

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Investigation

4:15pm EDT

The Power of Maps

"One of the greatest challenges experts face when participating in capital defense mitigation is providing the jury with visual mitigating evidence. Sixty-five percent of the population are visual learners – so give them something to look at. Maps can literally provide a visual snapshot of what is happening in a defendant’s life and what mitigation factors influenced his/her life.

Testimony aided by digital mapping provides a persuasive means for presenting complex, community risk factors for criminal violence such as poverty, exposure to violence, lead exposure, community disorganization, gang activity, lack of role models and substandard education. Such considerations of shaping influences are critical to a sentencing determination.

Speakers

Amy Nguyen

GIS Analyst, Capital Maps, LLC

Amy Nguyen is a Researcher, GIS Analyst and owner of Capital Maps, LLC in the Dallas, Texas area. Her specialty is mapping Department of Justice community risk factors and performing demographic analysis. She holds master’s level certification in Geographic Information Systems (GIS... Read More →

Thursday March 18, 2021 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT
Room 15

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Core Staff, Capital, Social Work, Investigation, COSW

10:00am EDT

Attorney Relationships and Challenges With Them

Speakers

Andrea Lyon

Principal, Professor Emeritus, Lyon Law

Ms. Lyon is a renowned lawyer, author, speaker, professor and former Dean of the Valparaiso University Law School, who has been featured on national news and media outlets. Dubbed “The Angel of Death Row” by the Chicago Tribune, she was the first woman to serve as lead attorney... Read More →

Ashley Morgan Nunn

Investigator, Montgomery County Public Defender's Office

Ashley Morgan Nunn, LBSW is an Investigator with the Office of the Public Defender 15th Judicial Circuit, Montgomery, Al, where she has been employed for 4 years. Ashley received her Bachelors of Arts in Social Work from Auburn University and has been licensed by the State of Alabama... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Room 10

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Investigation, Core Staff, Social Work

10:00am EDT

Client in Distress: A Road Map for De-Escalation

This session teaches advocates how to diffuse a situation when a client faces especially challenging circumstances. Clients are facing very difficult situations, and the role of attorneys is to understand the complexities of their mental state and work effectively with them during this time. Attendees will learn practice tips and strategies to apply in their cases.

Speakers

Shane Beaubien

Defender Services Branch Supervisor, Department of Public Advocacy

Shane Beaubien is a 2001 graduate of Murray State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice.  Shane began his career as a criminal defense investigator in the Department of Public Advocacy’s Murray Trial Office in August of 2002.  In August 2016, Shane became... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Room 6

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Core Staff, Investigation, Social Work

10:00am EDT

Consumer Electronics and the IoT (Internet of Things): The Next Wave of Digital Evidence in Litigation

Our world is becoming increasingly hyper-connected. The objective of the Internet of things is for everything to communicate and interface with everything. From wearable technology and smart home assistants, to Internet connected medical ingestibles and social credit scores, more data is being collected about us than ever, and this data can and is being used in litigation.

This class will explain how this data is collected from the Internet of things devices, and the places that they store data such as the cloud, cell phones, and computers. Cases involving Internet of things devices such as digital pacemakers, fitness wearables, and smart home assistants will be discussed, with an eye to the future of how this data will become more prevalent and pervasive.

Speakers

Lars Daniel

Practice Leader: Digital Forensics, Envista Forensics

Lars Daniel, EnCE, CCPA, CCO, CTNS, CIPTS, CWA, CTAPractice Leader: Digital ForensicsEnvista ForensicsLars is the co-author of the book Digital Forensics for Legal Professionals: Understanding Digital Evidence from the Warrant to the Courtroom, published by Syngess, an imprint of Elsevier Publishing. He is also co-author of the book Digital Forensics Trial Graphics: Educating the Jury Through... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Room 14

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Investigation

10:00am EDT

Enhance Your Story With Visual Aids: Help Them See and Feel What You Say

This session will explore ways to advance storytelling through the use of numerous visual aids. It will include a brief overview on the importance of utilizing storytelling as an effective means of persuasion, but mainly focus on concrete ways to use visuals in court, and online, to allow fact finders to better comprehend and retain information conveyed.

Speakers

Patrice Fulcher

Director of Training, Maryland Office of the Public Defender (OPD)

Attorney Patrice A. Fulcher is the Director of Training for the Maryland Office of the Public Defender (OPD). She joined OPD in 2015, and is responsible for heading the Agency’s Gideon’s Promise Certified, New Hire Attorney Training Program; supervising the Attorney CLE requirements... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Room 11

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Trial Skills, Core Staff, Investigation, Social Work

10:00am EDT

How are You Accessing Criminal Record Data?

How are you accessing criminal record data? Did you know you can access some of the same data sets used by law enforcement. Today we will be addressing some of the challenges public defense teams face when acquiring data to best serve their clients, and presenting some available solutions, while discussing new innovations.

Speakers

Perry Morgan

Perry Morgan is a veteran in the data industry with over three decades of experience. Rising from humble beginnings in the inner city of Los Angeles, California, Perry has held executive positions with legacy companies within the industry. For the last 30 years, Perry has contributed... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Room 16

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Investigation

2:00pm EDT

Re-Imagining Investigations: A Short Course

This presentation helps investigators and attorneys recognize flawed investigations and gives them the analytical tools to demonstrate those flaws in a way that is understandable to a jury.

Speakers

Thomas Lancaster

Investigator and Owner, Lancaster Investigations, LLC

Tom Lancaster is the owner of Lancaster Investigations, LLC, a Maryland investigative and intelligence analysis agency specializing in criminal defense investigations. Mr. Lancaster has more than 30 years of military and civilian investigative and forensics experience from various... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT
Room 10

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Forensics, Investigation

4:15pm EDT

Preparing for Future COVID-19 Era Mitigation Claims and Investigations

As the COVID-19 pandemic slowly grinds to a close, we are beginning to come to grips with the immeasurable societal wreckage left in its wake. The impact of this time period will be felt for decades to come and will, without doubt, be relevant to the mitigation narratives of future capital clients. This presentation will cover an inventory of COVID-19 based mitigation issues to consider for future mitigation efforts, followed by a roundtable discussion to exchange additional ideas and information for the purpose of thinking ahead.

This session will not be recorded

Speakers

Herbert Duzant

Capital Habeas Investigator, Federal Public Defender Office, District of Nevada

Herbert Duzant is a native New Yorker and veteran criminal defense investigator with over twenty-five years of experience. Mr. Duzant is currently the senior investigator at the District of Nevada’s Federal Public Defender (FPD), where he handles both fact and mitigation investigations... Read More →

Betsy Wilson

Founder, Sentencing Advocacy Group of Evanston

Betsy Wilson is a founder of the Sentencing Advocacy Group of Evanston, where she leads a multidisciplinary team of sentencing advocates and record specialists. SAGE conducts mitigation investigations in federal and state and capital, juvenile-life-sentence, and non-capital cases... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT
Room 6

Not recorded

Subject Capital, Investigation, Social Work, COVID

4:15pm EDT

Towards an Understanding of the Latino Community

This session will provide an overview to understanding the Latino paradox, how one sector of the community is on a path of upward mobility and another is struggling. Both sectors are growing at the same time.
It will also discuss some recent immigration and law enforcement policy changes and how they impact the Latino community.
This session will also elaborate and provide an understanding of the Afro-Latino community.

Hannah Brooks is an attorney and Afro-Latina and will discuss the racial issues surrounding this topic and changes to policies in this area.

Speakers

Sylvia Puente

President and CEO, Latino Policy Forum

Sylvia Puente is the President and CEO of the Latino Policy Forum, a nonprofit that works for equity, justice, and economic prosperity on behalf of Latinos in Chicago and Illinois through public-policy advocacy and analysis on issues including education, housing, and immigration... Read More →

Hannah J Brooks

Owner & CEO, HJB Legal Services

Hannah owns HJB Legal Services, Ltd., where her practices serves primarily within the Latinx/e community. Her primary practice area is Family Law. She represents adult litigants, and also is appointed by Cook County Judges to represent minor children where there are disputes among... Read More →

Friday March 19, 2021 4:15pm - 5:15pm EDT
Room 10

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Immigration, Investigation, Racial Justice, COSW

10:00am EDT

In Support of Women: Gender-Responsive Work with Female Defendants

Zoom passcode if needed: 710249

Nationwide, the rate of women’s incarceration has grown at twice the pace of men’s in the past few decades. Women are more likely to be incarcerated for drug and property crimes with less access to diversion programs and sentencing alternatives. Women are also disproportionately the primary caregivers for children and more frequently are victims of abuse and trauma. An additional concern for women’s incarceration is that women charged criminally are not assessed in a gender-responsive manner for needs or responsiveness to treatment. This presentation will provide an overview of the growing rates of female incarceration before focusing on how to perform a gender-responsive assessment for female defendants guiding opportunities for diversion, intervention, and treatment alternatives.

Speakers

Stephanne Cline Thornton

Clinical Director, West Virginia Judicial and Lawyer Assistance Program

Stephanne Cline Thornton is the Clinical Director for the West Virginia Judicial and Lawyer Assistance Program and owner of Transform Legal, a consultation service that offers training, program development, support, and instruction on trauma-informed legal practice, mitigation, and... Read More →

Saturday March 20, 2021 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Room 8

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Social Work, Investigation, Systemic Advocacy

10:00am EDT

Investigation Information Management

Using the "PLATO" method to organize and analyze information provided and gathered in a criminal case

Case example documents available. Pre-read before watching the video.

Speakers

Paul Chambers

Senior Investigator, Ontario County Public Defender’s Office

Paul Chambers is the Senior Investigator at the Ontario County Public Defender’s Office. He has held this post since the creation of the office in 2010. His journey to being part of the criminal justice system in upstate New York is an unusual one.He began by studying Chemistry... Read More →

Saturday March 20, 2021 10:00am - 11:00am EDT
Room 7

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Investigation

12:15pm EDT

Record Keeping Best Practices: Pots, Pans, and Paper

This session will not be recorded.

Speakers

Kristen Samuels

Investigator/Paralegal, Southern Center for Human Rights

Kristen Samuels has been an investigator since August 2014 at the Southern Center for Human Rights in Atlanta, GA. She investigates death penalty cases and long-term sentences in Alabama and Georgia at all stages of litigation including pre-trial and post-conviction. Kristen has been... Read More →

Charity Laister

Mitigation Specialist, Private Practice

Charity Laister is a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker in the State of Alabama. Ms. Laister has more than 10 years of social work experience. Throughout her social work career, she has practiced directly with individuals, served as a social work supervisor, and served as... Read More →

Saturday March 20, 2021 12:15pm - 1:15pm EDT
Room 12

Not recorded

Subject Capital, Core Staff, Investigation, Social Work

12:15pm EDT

Takeaways from Our Investigator Meetups

We first met on March 27th, 2020. The pandemic was here, we didn't know how, what and where we were going to be doing our work and help our clients. I was asked to create a safe place for people to be able talk about those concerns and worries. Maybe we could find ways to be productive working from home, and discover solutions together. We talked about our own biases, racial injustice and our favorite hacks for websites and software! In this session we will talk about the highs and lows our conversations and a hopefully a few takeaways that will help us all! Please join us!!

Speakers

Jon Lyon

Investigator Resource Coordinator, National Association for Public Defense

JONATHAN LYON is currently the Investigator Resource Coordinator, past Member Support Coordinator and the national survey investigator for National Association for Public Defense. Since the pandemic he has led roughly 125 meetups for investigators both nationally and internationally... Read More →

Saturday March 20, 2021 12:15pm - 1:15pm EDT
Room 7

Workshops/Breakouts

Subject Investigation