Key bills passed by lawmakers advance systemic change in both criminal and dependency law, helping to build a more compassionate response to trauma, poverty, and racial inequity.
Dre Glaspy sat in jail for more than five years for the death of a child he loved. A defense team, with the help of top medical experts, showed what really happened. Now Dre can begin the hard but meaningful work of rebuilding his life, while grieving for the boy he lost.
DPD filed an amicus brief in Brackeen, pending before the U.S. Supreme Court, to provide a realistic view of ICWA’s careful ‘case-by-case decision-making.’ The law, our brief says, ‘results in better judicial decisions.’
DPD’s 19 interns just wrapped up a 10-week program. Four of them talked to us about what made it meaningful — from arguing motions, to challenging search warrants, to going to trial. Most meaningful, they said, was working with clients, fighting on behalf of people ensnared in a harmful system.
Many at DPD are mourning Don Madsen, a public defense leader who loved the work and the people who were drawn to it.
Nate Sanders had lost hope of an early release. Then the State Supreme Court invalidated the state’s felony drug law, and a DPD attorney sent him a letter. He’s now a free man.
Unregulated evidence, from the way a person dresses to the color of their skin, profoundly influences jurors. And yet it often goes unchallenged and unchecked, says Bennett Capers.
Thousands of people are in prison due to a law the State Supreme Court found unconstitutional. Now, attorneys are trying to address the harms of these wrongful convictions.
DPD started its post-conviction unit earlier this year. Already, its three part-time attorneys have seen 200 people, helping many of them extinguish thousands of dollars in crippling LFOs and wipe old convictions from their records.
DPD Director Anita Khandelwal voices concerns about the proposals put forward by a regional working group seeking to address the issues that cause people to cycle through the criminal legal system.
For The Defense 