@mdefenders.bsky.social
Contributing to the world of public defender training, work, and criminal legal system reform
@mdefenders.bsky.socialLast week, >30 public defender offices participated in @umichlaw.bsky.social's Public Defender Interviewing Week. We had >150 interviews & two mixer events where students got to meet public defenders from around the nation. Thanks to all who participated. We hope to see you again next year!
@mdefenders.bsky.socialThe research is clear: "blading" is a conclusory term, and can't establish reasonable suspicion. Worse, police use the term almost exclusively to describe people of color to transform their unsupported hunches into something that sounds more official. datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...
@mdefenders.bsky.socialAttention public defenders: NACDL has published a very useful Omnibus Technology Discovery Checklist that provides a comprehensive set of discovery requests for criminal cases involving surveillance technology and digital evidence: www.nacdl.org/Document/Omn.... @nacdl.org @4ac.nacdl.org
@mdefenders.bsky.socialAdolescents are more susceptible to outside influences than adults. This makes them more likely to give false information & introduces reliability concerns to police evidence based on adolescent interrogation. Our model motion outlines the arguments: datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...
@primuseve.bsky.socialReposted by @mdefenders.bsky.socialAttn: @umichlaw.bsky.social and @mdefenders.bsky.social is hiring a Clinical Assistant Professor of Law/Associate Director for the new MDefenders Center for Public Defense. Job posting here: careers.umich.edu/job_detail/2.... Come work w/me to train the next generation of public defenders!
@mdefenders.bsky.socialAmazing lunchtime panel @umichlaw.bsky.social today on different kinds of indigent defense with speakers talking about trial-level adult defense, juvenile defense, family defense, appellate defense, postconviction defense, federal defense, and special litigation.
@mdefenders.bsky.socialDNA statistics may confuse your jury. “Likelihood ratio” evidence — the statistical frequency of a suspect’s characteristic — has not been sufficiently validated and is misleading to the jury because the jury conflates it with probability of guilt. datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...
@mdefenders.bsky.socialWe had an amazing week with trainings for our aspiring public defenders on how to approach public defender interviewing (the general questions and the fun hypotheticals that public defender offices throw at you). Wishing everyone luck in their public defender interviews.
@mdefenders.bsky.socialDoes the existence of drugs = presence of firearms? Can you infer intent to distribute from a large quantity of drugs? Social science answers in the negative. This model motion, based on the FRE, argues for exclusion of such testimony by police officers: datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...
@mdefenders.bsky.socialThe Public Defender Training Institute @umichlaw.bsky.social is a year-long immersion into public defender training that began this past weekend with an intensive Retreat filled with trainings, simulations, & fun (including karaoke). Here's to a great year! michigan.law.umich.edu/public-defen...
@mdefenders.bsky.socialAn incredible Public Defender Training Institute Retreat this weekend preparing students for careers in indigent defense. Thanks to amazing cofacilitators Rick Barinbaum Saeeda Joseph-Charles Blase Kearney & Anna Yaldo for your time wisdom & thoughtful feedback
michigan.law.umich.edu/public-defen...
@mdefenders.bsky.socialWhat an incredible turnout at the @umichlaw.bsky.social MDefenders kickoff event last night. Thanks to Ashley Munger, Glen Oh, Jackie Pilcowitz, & Jonathan Roberts from NDS Detroit for coming to Ann Arbor and talking with us about what it is like to be a public defender and why they do this work.
@mdefenders.bsky.socialA great 1st fall MDefenders mtg! 1Ls, 2Ls & 3Ls assembled to hear 2L & 3L MDefenders share highs & lows from their summer experiences, why they care so deeply about this work, plus inspiration from other public defenders. "It kind of felt like the Avengers!" said one student.
@mdefenders.bsky.socialAttention @umichlaw.bsky.social students: We hope to see many of you today at our kickoff lunch event where we debrief about our summer internships in public defender offices. Come join us!
