‘I’m home.’ Client is freed thanks to Blake decision and public defense
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.
The role of ‘unregulated evidence’ should concern us all, leading law professor says
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.
At DPD, a new unit helps people reclaim their lives
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.
Fighting for justice: Two public defenders worked for years to get their client acquitted
Emanuel Fair sat in jail for nearly nine years before he was acquitted of a murder charge in June. Ben Goldsmith and Katharine Edwards fought hard to make it happen.
The importance of knowing your rights: Three youth share their experiences with police stops
What should you do if you’re stopped by the police? Three youth in King County share an important message.
Public Defense creates new post-conviction unit
Criminal records hinder a person’s ability to get a job, secure housing, obtain benefits and more. The Department of Public Defense’s new post-conviction relief unit will help people rebuild their lives by vacating convictions and expunging records as allowed under state law.
SMC policy that kept clients in jail an extra night declared illegal
A Seattle Municipal Court (SMC) policy permitting a judge to hold certain defendants in jail more than one business day before a preliminary appearance was struck down yesterday in a significant win for criminal defendants.
A new front for public defense: Helping clients address collateral consequences of criminal involvement
Thanks to a pilot project funded by the City of Seattle, the Department of Public Defense is now able to address the civil consequences of a criminal conviction or arrest.
Defense team works to clear name of man wrongly accused and imprisoned
Ezequiel Apolo-Albino spent eight years in prison wrongfully accused of a crime that never happened. Thanks to the tenacity and legal acumen of Department of Public Defense attorney Amy Parker and DPD investigators Molly Gilbert and Bettye Witherspoon, a Superior Court judge recently signed an order vacating his conviction on two counts of child molestation.
Attorney to be honored for a major federal court win for immigrant detainees
The win last year was a game-changer. Thanks to a class-action lawsuit brought by several public interest attorneys, a federal judge ruled that immigrants with mental disabilities facing deportation proceedings are entitled to a lawyer, a first-ever affirmation of the right to appointed counsel for immigrant detainees.
