Wisconsin State Public Defender’s Annual Criminal Defense Conference 2015 From the Courtroom to the Interview Room: Fighting for our Clients with Courage and Compassion November 12 & 13, 2015
SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES
Craig Albee is an Associate Federal Defender in Milwaukee. Following law school at the University of Wisconsin, he served as a law clerk for Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice William A. Bablitch. From 1991 to 2011 he practiced criminal defense with Shellow, Shellow & Glynn, and Glynn, Fitzgerald & Albee. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, and was twice named a top 50 lawyer in Wisconsin by Super Lawyers.
Linda Albert is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor. She received her Master’s Degree from UW-Madison in Social Work. She has professional assessment/treatment/referral competencies in the areas of addictions, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, trauma and illness impacted by stress. Linda has worked over the past 25 years as an administrator, consultant, trainer and psychotherapist in a variety of settings including providing services to impaired professionals.
She has done multiple presentations for conferences at the local, state and national level. Currently Linda is employed by the State Bar of Wisconsin as the WisLap Coordinator.
Dr. Lisa Baker has worked as a psychologist, consultant, and researcher over the past 15+ years in various community-based and university settings addressing the effects of stress on well-being and health, including in the context of social justice work and in marginalized and understudied populations. Currently, Dr. Baker works in private practice as a psychologist, consultant, and mindfulness teacher in Madison, WI. She works with individuals, leaders, groups, and organizations who seek to build skills, processes, and relationships in working toward wellness, health, and justice for all. Additionally, Dr. Baker serves as Co-Chair for the the Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity Advisory Committee for the Center for Mindfulness (CFM) in Medicine, Health Care, and Society, UMASS School of Medicine, as well as serves as an ambassador on the Wisconsin’s HIV/AIDS Program’s State Action Planning Group. Dr. Baker continues to write, contribute to research, and offer trainings on various topics, including trauma-informed care, diversity and inclusion, and wellness processes and outcomes in understudied and marginalized populations.
John Breffeilh is an SPD staff lawyer in the agency’s Milwaukee Appellate Office.
Jerry Buting received his law degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1981. He is part of Buting and Williams, S.C. in Brookfield. His areas of practice include criminal law, drunk driving, domestic violence, drug charges, homicides and violent crimes, internet crimes, white collar crimes, sex offenses and juvenile offenses. Mr. Buting is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, having served on the NACDL Board of Directors from 1990 to 1992, and is current Chair of the State Bar’s Criminal Law Section. Milton Childs is an SPD staff lawyer in the agency’s Milwaukee Juvenile/Mental Health Office in Milwaukee. Milton assists the agency with the training of new staff lawyers, particularly in the area of termination of parental rights cases and racial justice issues.
Michael Cohen is the Principal/Onwer of Cohen Law Offices. Mr. Cohen graduated from Dartmouth College in 1988 and received his JD from UW- Madison in 1991. His practice is focused solely on the defense of the accused in all types of criminal matters. Mr. Cohen’s practice is approximately 50% devoted to OWI defense. He is one of only three lawyers in WI to be recognized by the American Chemical Society as a Lawyer- Scientist. Although he focuses his practice in the trial courts, he has successfully argued in all levels of the WI Courts including the WI Supreme Court. (State v Zarnke).
Mr. Cohen is a member of the NCDD (National College for DUI Defense), DUIDLA (DUI Defense Lawyers Assoc), DUIDLA's Justice Foundation (Board member) , NACDL, WACDL (Board Member), as well as a Board Member and Committee member for a variety of local Criminal Justice and civic organizations and businesses in his local area in NW WI.
Deborah Collins, Psy.D., ABPP is Director of the Wisconsin Forensic Unit and President of Behavioral Consultants, Inc., private clinics which provide consultation to attorneys and courts regarding a wide range of psycholegal issues. The Wisconsin Forensic Unit is in contract with DHS to provide competency to stand trial evaluations of adult defendants on an outpatient basis throughout the state. Ms. Collins provides consultation to courts and DHS regarding the competency evaluation process. She is a Member of the Board of Directors of American Board of Forensic Psychology. Her professional activities include conducting forensic mental health evaluations and teaching at the Marquette University Law School, Wisconsin School of Professional Psychology and Medical College of Wisconsin.
Tony Cotton graduated law school in 2005 from Marquette. He and his mother, Donna Kuchler, are the partners at Kuchler & Cotton, in Waukesha. Mr. Cotton was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) and served two terms on the board. For 8 years he has been on the Board of Directors of the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (WACDL). In July, Mr. Cotton will become WACDL's president. Since 2012, he has written a monthly column for the Wisconsin Law Journal, called "On the Defensive." In addition to his writings and organizational work, he maintains an active law practice, handling criminal cases in state and federal court. Mr. Cotton is always available to help or assist with issues that may arise in anyone's practice.
Peyton Engel is a litigation associate in the Madison law firm of Hurley, Burish & Stanton, S.C. He has a B.A. in Russian from Grinnell College, an M.A. in Russian literature from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, and received his J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School. Prior to joining Hurley, Burish, & Stanton, Mr. Engel worked for over 18 years in information technology, with 16 years specialized in information security. He holds the CISSP and CSSLP certifications and is a frequent speaker at computer security and hacker conferences. Mr. Engel’s practice includes business disputes and professional liability, as well as forensic and consulting expert work in matters of information security, privacy, regulatory compliance, and criminal charges. He frequently serves as a consultant and expert witness in cases where digital evidence is at issue.
Keith Findley moved to the tenure track in the fall of 2012 after more than 20 years teaching in the clinical programs at the Law School's Frank J. Remington Center. He currently teaches Evidence, Wrongful Convictions, and Criminal Procedure. Along with co-director Professor Carrie Sperling, he also continues to serve as faculty director of the Wisconsin Innocence Project (which he co-founded with Professor John Pray). For five years, from 1999 to November 2014, he served as president of the Innocence Network, an affiliation of 68 innocence projects in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, The Netherlands, France, Italy, South Africa, Israel, and Argentina.
Prof. Findley's primary areas of expertise are in wrongful convictions, criminal law and procedure, and appellate advocacy. He has previously worked as an Assistant State Public Defender in Wisconsin, both in the Appellate and Trial Divisions. He has litigated hundreds of post-conviction and appellate cases, at all levels of state and federal courts, including the United States Supreme Court.
He also lectures and teaches nationally on wrongful convictions, forensic science, evidence, and appellate advocacy. His scholarly agenda focuses on the causes of and remedies for wrongful convictions.
Fernando Freyre, Esq., became a trial lawyer in the Denver Office of the Colorado State Public Defender in January of 1983 because no NFL team wanted him. He is currently a supervisor in the Denver office for a felony division. He has tried over 100 felony trials including more than 30 murder cases. Fernando often teaches ethics and trial tactics within the Public Defender System and does lectures for the Colorado Bar Association and at the law schools for the Universities of Denver and Colorado. He also teaches in Latin America and for the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia. He is a fellow in the American College of Trial Lawyers.
Jennifer Friedman is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin. She has been a Deputy Public Defender in Los Angeles County since 1987. She is currently the Assistant Special Circumstances Coordinator and Forensic Science Coordinator for the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s office. She assists in the supervision of the office’s capital cases and represents clients charged with capital murder. She has tried over 150 felony jury trials many of which were sexual assaults and homicides involving complex scientific issues. She writes the expert section of the California Death Penalty Manual. She was a member of the President’s Inter-Agency Working on Standards, Practices and Protocols and is a member of the Office of Scientific Area Committees Legal Resources Committee. She is a frequent lecturer on the death penalty and the use of forensic sciences in the courts.
Kate Frigo is a lawyer with Strang Bradley, LLC in Madison. She previously worked as an Assistant State Public Defender in the Stevens Point Office. She obtained her law degree from the University of WI Law School and her undergraduate degree from Marquette University.
Nicholas Gansner is a partner at Nicholson & Gansner, S.C., where he joined the defense bar in 2013 after acting in a prosecutorial capacity as both an Assistant District Attorney in Dane County, Wisconsin and an Assistant Attorney General with the Illionis Attorney General. He has tried dozens of cases to jury, many with a focus on domestic abuse, sexual assault, and violent crimes. Mr. Gansner is a graduate of Dartmouth and the University of Virginia, and maintains memberships in the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys and the Dane County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association.
Tara Godoy is a Certified Forensic Nurse and Legal Nurse Consultant who has been working Criminal and Civil Attorneys for over 5 years. She has a BS in Nursing from the University of Southern California and currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Through consulting and testimony she has assisted criminal attorneys in obtaining an honest and fair resolution in hundreds of criminal cases. Her consulting firm has 6 RN’s and 3 MD’s and has consulted on criminal cases in 17 states and has worked at both the federal and state levels. Tara has been asked to present for national organizations such as the NACDL and the NDIA at their Forensics conferences in Las Vegas in addition to being an instructor for the Orange County Coroner’s Office Death Investigator Course twice yearly. Tara’s specialty areas include medical record analysis, medically acceptable blood draws, child abuse, gunshot wounds, strangulation and blunt force trauma. Tara can be reached at [email protected]
Ben Goldsmith is Assistant Felony Supervisor for The Defender Association Division of the King County Department of Public Defense. He received a J.D. from the University of Michigan, and an LLM from the Georgetown University Law Center, where he was an E. Barrett Prettyman fellow in the Criminal Justice Clinic. During his time at Georgetown, Mr. Goldsmith tried felony and misdemeanor cases in D.C. Superior Court and taught and supervised 3rd year law students in the criminal clinic. In 2006, he joined The Defender Association Division. Since 2009 he has been the Assistant Felony Supervisor and has focused on the training and development of attorneys, investigators, and paralegals within the division. Mr. Goldsmith also represents clients charged with three- and two-strike offenses and with homicide.
Prior to attending law school, Mr. Goldsmigh was both an intern-investigator and a staff investigator for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (PDS) and worked on behalf of numerous clients including those charged with murder, rape, kidnapping, and armed robbery.
Joshua Hargrove began his legal trajectory at the University of Wisconsin Law school where he served on the Moot Court Board by way of receiving accolades for Top Writing Sample and Top Oralist in the Historical Omar Megahed annual school wide competition. He also served as a Sub regional director of the Midwest Black law student's Association. subsequently, his legal career began at Boardman Law firm, where he was able to litigate not only to the Colorado Supreme Court, but ultimately to the USSC. he also published comprehensive articles on dense areas of law on the law firm's website, for the benefit of colleagues, partners and the legal community.
Eventually Joshua became an advisor on the National Black Law Student's, assisted with training in legal research and writing, judging moot court competitions, and cultivating law students' oral advocacy and legal writing skills.
Briefly in Chicago Joshua assisted marginalized communities with access to colleges and careers in the Midwest area. Subsequently Joshua was called back to Northern Wisconsin where he served as an ASPD in Hudson, WI for approximately 2 years. There he was able to further refine legal research and writing skills. Delved into multiple trials across 4 counties and assisted with even more trials with the direct assistance and mentor ship of Key attorneys (Kucinski, Morse, Andrea and Smestadt) there.
Further Joshua has been serving as an ASPD in the Racine office where he has been awarded for his community service by a historical and renowned Center. Still participating in trials, acute pretrial motions, being stretched and mentored to be an even more bold, zealous, and knowledgeable advocate under the direction of the esteemed Adrienne Moore and Margaret Johnson…the possibilities are endless.
Dustin Haskell is an attorney in the State Public Defender's Milwaukee Appellate office. He has worked in the office for his entire legal career. During his time with the agency, Dustin has captained the Milwaukee Appellate kickball team to countless regular season wins, but a tragic 1-4 record in championship games. He has had slightly more success with sentence modification motions.
Carey Haughwout was elected in November, 2000 as the Public Defender of Palm Beach County. She has spent the last decade as a private defense attorney in a West Palm Beach practice with her husband, John Tierney. From 1985-1987, she worked as an assistant public defender in Tallahassee and from 1987-1990 as an assistant public defender in Palm Beach County in the Capital Crimes Division.
Carey was the President of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers from 1996-97, an association of over 1,000 lawyers and President of Palm Beach County chapter in 1991.
She has lectured around the country on numerous criminal law topics including client relations, cross- examination, and voir dire. She is on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College and currently serves on the Florida Bar's Board of Legal Specialization and Education. Ms. Haughwout was specially appointed by the Supreme Court to serve on a committee to recommend standards for appointed, private and public defender lawyers in capital cases. In 1993, she received the Legal Aid Society's Pro bono award in criminal law and currently serves on the Board of Directors.
She has been board certified in criminal trials since 1992.
Joan Haznaw is a professional trainer and training developer for Empathia. Joan has an educational background in social work as well as extensive education in program design and facilitation. Joan has been providing programs since 1993 on a variety of topics including: Effective Communication Skills, Respect in the Workplace, Drug Free Workplace, Stress Management, and a number of other workplace topics, as well as personal growth programs.
Justin Heim has been the Client Services Specialist in the SPD’s Appellate Division since 2011. Prior to that, Mr. Heim received his MA in Contemplative Counseling Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado, and spent several years working in the community mental health setting. He has experience as a Mental Health Crisis Evaluator, a Jail Mental Health Counselor, a Clinical Case Manager, as well as a Supervisor of a residential treatment facility for individuals living with severe and persistent mental illness. Mr. Heim’s graduate program incorporated mindfulness and other contemplative practices into counselor development. He has practiced mindfulness in one form or another for the past 10 years.
Robert R. Henak has focused his practice on the defense of criminal cases his entire career. Since 1987, he has limited his practice almost exclusively to post-conviction work and criminal appeals throughout Wisconsin, as well as in a number of federal district courts and circuit courts of appeal.
Jennifer Hendricks graduated from UW Madison in May 1994 with a Bachelor’s in Psychology and Sociology plus a Certificate in Criminal Justice. She completed her Master’s in Social Work in December of 1995. Ms. Hendricks interned with the Wisconsin Public Defender as a Client Services Intern while in graduate school and in 1999 started working as a CSS at the Madison Trial Office. Ms. Hendricks became the Client Services Coordinator in 2010. When she is not working, she enjoys spending time at home with her two young children and working in her flower beds.
Steve Hurley is a trial lawyer. People come to him when they have a serious problem that needs to be fixed; whether it’s a criminal charge or a civil complaint. Highly regarded for his ability to solve problems and to try cases, Steve was nominated and elected by his peers to the prestigious American College of Trial Lawyers and, for a decade, has been selected as one of the Top 10 Lawyers in Wisconsin by Superlawyers®. His reputation earns him many referrals from colleagues for both criminal and civil cases. Since 1989 he has also been an Adjunct Professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School teaching evidence and trial advocacy. When it comes to appearing in court Steve says, “First, I care about my client. It’s the only way one can accomplish anything. Second, I prepare. What you see in court is a show—not one line is unrehearsed. Liken it to a play written, produced and performed by one person for one show. One can’t be successful without preparation.”
Margaret Johnson is dedicated to justice for all. Margaret is the Racial Disparity Practice Coordinator for the Wisconsin Public Defender’s Office (SPD). Margaret assesses the presence of racial disparity in criminal justice systems and puts together the plan for addressing the disparity. Margaret has presented on issues surrounding Racial Disparity including the soon to be presented Race Circles. Margaret has been published in the Wisconsin Bar Association’s Juvenile Law Handbook. She has been honored as a Top Up-And-Coming WI Attorney in Super Lawyers and Milwaukee Magazine and as a member of the Rubin Society of the SPD for her work with children. Margaret is currently in dissertator status working towards a PhD in Urban Studies from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee. At Marquette University, Margaret completed her Jurist Doctor and Master of Arts in Public Service with an Administration of Justice Specialization. She is the Attorney Manager and practices in the Racine Trial Office, where she is a member of the Second Judicial District’s Veterans Court. Margaret enjoys coaching the Marquette University Undergraduate Mock Trial Team and is a Master Rated Figure Skating coach.
Cecelia Klingele, after receiving her J.D. from the University of Wisconsin Law School, served as a law clerk to Chief Judge Barbara B. Crabb of the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, Judge Susan H. Black of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, and Associate Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court. She returned to the University of Wisconsin in 2009 as a visiting assistant professor, and has been a permanent faculty member since 2011.
Professor Klingele's academic research focuses on criminal justice administration, with an emphasis on community supervision of those on conditional release. She is Associate Reporter for the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code: Sentencing revision, External Co-Director of the University of Minnesota Robina Institute's Sentencing Law & Policy Program, and past co-chair of the Academic Committee of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section.
She teaches courses in criminal law, Constitutional criminal procedure, criminal justice administration, policing, and sentencing and corrections. In additional to her teaching and research, Professor Klingele is a faculty associate of the Frank J. Remington Center and the Institute for Research on Poverty. She also serves on the Executive Committee of the UW-Madison Teaching Academy, an organization of faculty and instructional staff dedicated to promoting effective teaching and learning on campus and nationally by encouraging innovation, experimentation, and dialogue.
Professor Klingele and her husband live in Madison. They have one grown son, and seven more children at home who ensure life is never boring.
Erik Knudson, M.D. is the Associate Medical Director at Mendota Mental Health Institute. Dr. Knudson has worked at Mendota since 2003. He is the psychiatrist for the Management Treatment Unit (MTU), Mendota’s most secure unit. Dr. Knudson also supervises psychiatrists at Mendota and oversees the competency to stand trial restoration efforts. In addition to employment with the State of Wisconsin, Dr. Knudson provides forensic psychiatry services in private practice and maintains volunteer clinical faculty appointments with the Medical College of Wisconsin and University of Wisconsin. He trains psychiatry residents and fellows in the field of forensic psychiatry. Dr. Knudson earned his medical degree from the Medical College of Wisconsin (1998). He completed a Psychiatry residency program at the University of Wisconsin (1998 - 2002) and a Forensic Psychiatry fellowship at the Medical College of Wisconsin (2002 - 2003). He is Board Certified in Psychiatry and Forensic Psychiatry.
Dr. Steve Kopetskie currently is the Court Assessment and Community Programs Director at San Ridge Secure Treatment Center. He began working with sex offenders in 1993, and has assessed and provided treatment to sex offenders in Hawaii, North Carolina, Florida, and Wisconsin.
Bridget Krause graduated from Marquette Law School in May 2000 and began working at the Milwaukee Public Defender’s Office in June 2000. Although she left for two years to work in private criminal defense, she made her way back to the Public Defender's Office in 2012. She currently she handles all types of criminal cases and enjoys litigating 4th Amendment Motions. Ms. Krause is also an Adjunct Professor at Marquette University Law School teaching Trial Advocacy 1. She has been an Adjunct Professor since 2009.
Michele LaVigne practiced as a State Public Defender in Madison, Wisconsin before joining the UW Law School’s clinical faculty. She now teaches criminal law, professional responsibility, and trial advocacy. She is the director of the Remington Center's Public Defender Project, in which law students are placed as interns in public defender offices throughout Wisconsin.
Prof. LaVigne is a member of the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College and the Wisconsin Public Defender Trial Skills Academy. She has given presentations to defense attorneys around the country on trial advocacy. In 2010, she received the David Niblack Award from the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers for service to the indigent.
During most of her tenure at the Law School, Prof. LaVigne has also been involved in research and litigation on the rights of deaf defendants. She co-authored "An Interpreter Isn't Enough: Deafness, Language and Due Process," * 2003 Wis. L. Rev. 843 (with McCay Vernon, Ph.D), which discusses deafness and language acquisition and their combined effects on deaf and severely hard-of-hearing individuals in the criminal justice system. Prof. LaVigne has lectured in a number of states to organizations of the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as to interpreter groups. Based on her advocacy for the deaf community, Prof. LaVigne received the Distinguished Member of the Year Award from the Wisconsin Association the Deaf in 2005 and the Thomas G. Cannon Equal Justice Medal from the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee in 2009.
In 1999, Prof. LaVigne developed a mock trial program at the Wisconsin School for the Deaf in Delavan, Wisconsin. This is a joint undertaking involving WSD, the law school, and the law firm of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe. In 2004, the WSD mock trial team competed in the State Bar High School Mock Trial Competition. This was the first time in Wisconsin that a deaf team participated. The WSD team won the regional competition and placed sixth in the state semi-finals. The WSD team continued to participate in the state competition for a number of years.
Prof. LaVigne is currently collaborating with Gregory Van Rybroek, JD, PhD, on research and scholarship related to the communicative, behavioral, and legal implications of language impairments among populations frequently found in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Their article "Breakdown in the Language Zone: The Prevalence of Language Impairments among Juvenile and Adult Offenders and Why It Matters"** was published the the Winter 2011 edition of UC Davis Journal of Juvenile Law and Policy. Their new article looks at the effects of a client's language impairments on the attorney-client relationship. The article "'He got in my face so I shot him': How Defendants' Language Impairments Impair Attorney-Client Relationships," will appear in Volume 17 of the CUNY Law Review (Winter 2014).***
Prof. LaVigne received the Law School's first Clinical Teacher of the Year Award in 2008.
Andrea Lyon was appointed as Dean of Valparaiso University Law School in July of 2014, a leader in curriculum reform and embracing diversity.
Formerly, she was a clinical professor of law, associate dean of Clinical Programs, and director of the Center for Justice in Capital Cases at DePaul college of Law. Lyon received her undergraduate degree from Rutgers University and her law degree from Antioch School of Law.
She has defended more than 30 potential capital cases at the trial level and has taken 19 through penalty phase; she won all 19. In 1990, she founded the Illinois Capital Resource Center and served as its director until joining the University of Michigan Law School faculty as an assistant clinical professor in 1995.
A winner of the prestigious National Legal Aid and Defender Association's Reginald Heber Smith Award for best advocate for the poor in the country, she is a nationally recognized expert in the field of death penalty defense and a frequent continuing legal education teacher throughout the country. In January of 2015, she was awarded Operation Push’s Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and President Lyndon B. Johnson Dream-Makers. Award
Calvin Malone is a staff lawyer in the SPD’s Milwaukee Trial Office. He serves on the core faculty of the agency’s Trial Skills Academy.
Colleen Marion, a Madison native, completed her undergraduate degree at Lewis & Clark College in Portland Oregon, returning to Madison for law school. She is an appellate attorney at the SPD Madison office.
Will Mattert has been a criminal defense investigator with the State Public Defender’s Office since 2004. He has worked in the Baraboo, Milwaukee Trial, Madison Appellate and Madison Trial offices. Will obtained a B.S. degree in Criminal Justice from UW- Whitewater. Will conducts extensive training in the area of criminal investigation for the SPD and most recently played a key role in the development of the SPD’s new Criminal Defense Investigation Institute.
Kevin W. McClain is a licensed private investigator in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Wisconsin. He is a Board Certified Criminal Defense Investigator and President of Kevin W. McClain Investigations Ltd., which is a multi-state investigative firm (Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Wisconsin) with 30 investigators that have over 300 years of investigative experience. He is qualified as an expert in Criminal Investigations, and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing. He has also been a college instructor in personal security. Mr. McClain began his career in 1993 and gained distinction as one of the regions premier private investigators assisting some of the finest criminal defense and civil attorneys with major felonies, personal injuries, wrongful deaths, excessive force, shootings, corporate investigations and high profile media cases. He has been a featured speaker at the national conferences for NLADA “Life in the Balance Capital Defense training seminars in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Florida and St. Louis. He has spoken for the IICLE Defending Illinois Death Penalty Cases and the IICLE Defending DUI’S and DUI Advocacy Academy. He also was a featured speaker at the Indiana Public Defenders Council on Sex Crimes and Molestation cases and the Missouri Criminal Defense Lawyers on “the Utilization of an Investigator”. He has developed numerous presentations on the utilization of the Internet and Social Media and has been retained as a Cyber Investigator in high profile media cases. He has spoken to numerous civic groups and financial institutions on Identity Theft and Cyber Crime and the methods to prevent it. He has developed numerous investigative and attorney investigative training programs throughout the country. He is a founding faculty member of nationally acclaimed Essentials of Defense Investigations Training Institute for criminal attorneys and investigators held yearly in Faubush, Kentucky. He has the distinction of being part of the defense team on two Illinois Death Penalty cases which were dismissed prior to trial. (First time in Illinois history since Capital Litigation Division was formed in 2000.) Mr. McClain has conducted over (70) Death Penalty investigations as a fact and mitigation investigator around the country including recently one of Angola (5) in Louisiana which resulted in a life sentence. Starting in January 2015 Mr. McClain will be an adjunct professor at Valparaiso Law School and also will be one of instructors for the newly developed Defense Investigators Certification Program taught through Valparaiso Law School. Mr. McClain has also worked with the Center of Wrongful Convictions at Northwestern University and is on the faculty at the Clarence Darrow Death Penalty College at DePaul University Law School in Chicago, Illinois and is a contract investigator for the Illinois Innocence Project.. Mr. McClain can be reached at 877-532-1152 or www.mcclaininvestigations.com.
Neil McGinn is a former staff lawyer in the SPD’s Milwuakee Trial Office. After a long, successful career as a criminal defense lawyer, he is now retired enjoying life on the golf course…and coming back to conduct training for the SPD.
Robert Mochel is an Assistant State Public Defender in the Milwaukee Juvenile/Mental Health Office. Mr. Mochel’s current caseload consists of juvenile delinquencies ranging from Disorderly Conduct to Homicide, Children in Need of Protection or Services (CHIPS), Juveniles in Need of Protection or Services (JIPS), and Termination of Parental Rights (TPR) cases. Prior to law school he attended Marquette University and graduated with a degree in Social Welfare and Justice. After graduation Mr. Mochel attended Capital University Law School in Columbus, Ohio where he received a Certificate in Child and Family Law. While in law school Mr. Mochel was actively engaged with the National Center for Adoption Law and Policy as well as the Child and Family Law Advocates organization.
Pamela Moorshead has been a staff member of the Milwaukee Appellate office of the State Public Defender for the past 2.25 years. Prior to that she graduated from Marquette Law School and worked in private practice for more than 20 years, most of that time exclusively representing the criminally accused at trial and on appeal in state and federal cases.
Mary Moriarty is the Chief Public Defender of the Hennepin County Public Defender’s Office. Ms. Moriarty has taught attorneys, judges, investigators, and paralegals in every region of the country. She serves on the faculty of public defender trial schools in Minnesota, Kentucky, Illinois, and Louisiana. Ms. Mroiarty is a core faculty member of Gideon’s Promise, and the 2015 recipient of the Steve Bright Award. She is the co-chair of the pattern evidence day for Barry Scheck’s Public Defender Forensic Conference at Cardozo College of Law in New York. Ms. Moriarty is a frequent contributor of webinars and blog posts for the National Association for Public Defense. Her interactive curriculum models have been widely copied by other trainers. Ms. Moriarty’s NACDL presentation, “Tuning Your Ear to the Off-Key,” on prosecutorial misconduct, was featured in the April 2009 issue of The Champion.
Ashley Morse is a staff attorney in the Janesville trial office. She received her undergraduate degree in History and African American studies from the University of Illinois Urbana- Champaign in 2006 and her law degree from the University of Wisconsin in 2009. She began working in the Hudson trial office in 2010 where she was a member of Polk and St. Croix County Justice Procedure Committees. Ashley has presented at several juvenile certification training's for the Wisconsin State Public Defender and recently completed the Juvenile Training Immersion Program at Georgetown Law School.
Kimberley Motley has earned the reputation as one of the worlds most respected and successful lawyers. Armed with an unwavering determination and a passion for justice, this pioneering litigator started her global legal practice in navigating Afghanistan’s punitive and capricious legal system with unprecedented success. Affectionately nicknamed “911,” Motley spends a majority of her time practicing law in in Afghanistan as well as other countries in defending foreigners, Fortune 500 companies, ambassadors, and women and children in human rights cases, which have involved everything from accusations of drug trafficking and personal violence to murder. Bringing her vast knowledge, experience, and steadfast ethical standards to each case, Motley challenges outdated cultural norms and is known mostly for her focus on human rights litigation. This former beauty queen, crowned Mrs. Wisconsin in 2004, has independently won precedent setting freedom for countless victims. Such as a seven-year-old child bride, a 15-year-old girl raped and imprisoned, and a British ex-soldier accused of bribery.
Motley is currently licensed to practice law in Afghanistan, the International Criminal Courts, the U.A.E., the U.S. Supreme Court, Wisconsin state, and is working on her barrister’s license for the U.K. She currently represents the Italian Embassy, French Embassy, U.K. Embassy, and the U.A.E. Embassy, all positions created specifically for her based on her legal accomplishments and highly principled standards. Her TED TALK entitled How I Defend the Rule of Law with over 800,000 views has inspired her to continue her work on an even bigger scale. She has currently launched a global legal campaign entitled the JUSTNESS PROJECT to educate the world at large of various legal systems by working with lawyers in their representation of clients.
Her expert legal work has earned international attention with segments on CNN, the BBC, NBC, Dan Rather Reports, as well as articles in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, The Guardian, The Washington Post, and The Huffington Post, among many others. Motley has also published several articles on juvenile justice and contemporary legal issues in Afghanistan. She is currently penning a book chronicling her experiences as a Western attorney in the Middle East. In her lectures around the world, Motley shares her breadth of international law and prowess in handling criminal, commercial, contract, civil, employment and tax law. The documentary entitled, Motley’s Law, was just recently released and at present has been picked up by the various film festivals in the U.S. and beyond. In addition to this, NBC is currently working on a scripted fiction TV Series, whose main character is inspired by Motley.
As a tenacious attorney and champion for justice, Motley continues to look forward in creating JUSTNESS around the world.
Jessa Nicholson is a partner at Nicholson & Gansner, S.C., a small criminal defense and family law trial-level litigation firm based in Madison, Wisconsin. Ms. Nicholson has tried dozens of cases to jury, with the majority involving serious felony offenses such as sexual assault or homicide. She was awarded the Dane County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association’s Warrior Award in 2010 and the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Martin Hanson Award (also known as The Advocate’s Prize) in 2013. Ms. Nicholson has previously presented to the Dane County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association and the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and has guest lectured at the University of Wisconsin – Law School.
Davorin J. Odrcic is an immigration lawyer based in Milwaukee and principal owner of Odrcic Law Group, LLC. He also serves as Of Counsel to Hochstatter, McCarthy, Rivas, & Runde.
Mr. Odrcic specializes in removal defense before the Chicago immigration court, post-conviction relief for noncitizens, and advising defense attorneys on immigration. He has written a book for the State Bar of Wisconsin titled Immigration Consequences of Wisconsin Criminal Offenses. Mr. Odrcic has also published several articles on the subject of crimmigration, and has guest-lectured at the University of Wisconsin Law School as well as other universities and colleges.
He is a member of the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Mr. Odrcic graduated from the University of Notre Dame Law School in 2001. He encourages defense attorneys who have questions regarding the immigration consequences of criminal charges to contact him at [email protected].
Adam Oldenburg is the Court Liaison for the State of Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS). He has worked in this position through Wisconsin Community Services (WCS) since September 2004. Prior to coming to WCS, Adam had the opportunity to work with individuals within the criminal justice system, as well as working with individuals with cognitive and developmental disabilities for over 14 years. He has a BA in Criminal Justice and has received extensive training in the statutes and processes that fall under WSS 971. Adam has developed collaborative working relationships with the various members of the Wisconsin Judicial system, the State Mental Health Institutes, and DHS-contracted service providers. Adam has presented annually at the Criminal Law & Sentencing Institute and the Clerk of Court Association Conference.
Nadya Pérez-Reyes started with the Wisconsin State Public Defender as attorney in the West Bend/Port Washington offices and now works in the Milwaukee Juvenile/Mental Health office. She earned her Bachelor’s, Master’s, and law degrees from the University of Wisconsin. After law school, Nadya worked as a staff attorney for Legal Action of Wisconsin in their Center for Driver’s License Recovery and Employability and as an Elections Law Specialist for the State of Wisconsin Government Accountability Board.
David H. Perlman attended the Indiana University Law School and received his JD in 1980. He began working for the Wisconsin Department of Justice as an Assistant Attorney General in 1991 and is currently assigned to the Training and Standards Bureau. His primary responsibility has been legal training for law enforcement and prosecutors.
Mr. Perlman teaches and coordinates training programs for the police, jail officials, school administrators, and prosecutors. Topics upon which he instructs include: constitutional law, criminal law, use of force, school safety, corrections, open records, management liability, and general civil liability issues. He is also responsible for the drafting and updating of various manuals and handbooks for the police as well as writing monthly articles for police and correctional law journals. He also helps in the production and appears in quarterly videos for the police on constitutional issues, entitled “Roll Call Law”, which is distributed to over 600 police departments throughout Wisconsin. In addition to his training and teaching responsibilities, he handles criminal appeals for the Department of Justice on 4th, 5th, and 6th Amendment issues and has argued cases to the appellate courts and to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.
Matthew Pinix is a Milwaukee criminal defense attorney whose practice focuses almost exclusively on criminal appeals. Mr. Pinix has argued several cases to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and has been the attorney of record in a number of cases resulting in published court of appeals’ decisions. Every year since 2013, he has been selected by his peers for inclusion in SuperLawyers Magazine as a Rising Star. In 2015, M Magazine listed him as a Leading Lawyer in criminal defense. Several of Mr. Pinix’s cases have received media attention, including a recent case in which the court of appeals reversed his client’s homicide conviction because trial counsel failed to exclude evidence on confrontation grounds.
Relevant to the topic presented today, Matthew, along with Michael Soukup, the other attorney in his office, litigated Douglas v. Hayes, wherein the court of appeals agreed that revocation based on a probationer’s refusal to give a statement after being read the standard warning atop the DOC statement form violated the Fifth Amendment.
Adam Plotkin has been the Legislative Liaison for the SPD since January 2011. Mr. Plotkin received his undergraduate degree in Political Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2000. Prior to that, he worked for a state legislator for 9 years in various capacities. He has served as policy advisor, committee clerk for the Senate Committee on Labor, Elections, and Urban Affairs, and office manager. Mr. Plotkin is an active member of the community, most notably as Treasurer and Past President of Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc. (the downtown Madison neighborhood association), member of the City of Madison's Downtown Coordinating Committee, and Secretary of the Dane County Emergency Medical Services Commission.
Anthony Rios is an Assistant State Public Defender and Forensic Sciences Practice Group Coordinator at the SPD. As a Coordinator, Anthony provides advice and consultation to SPD staff members and private bar attorneys taking SPD cases involving forensic issues, works with the SPD Training Division in the development and delivery of forensics training, and helps to develop and maintain a forensics practice website. Anthony works in the Madison Trial Office. Anthony graduated from the University of California – Santa Barbara in 2005 and the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2008. While in law school, Anthony was a clinic student at the Wisconsin Innocence Project and a member of the Wisconsin International Law Journal.
Diane Rondini-Harness has been a staff attorney in the SPD's Milwaukee Juvenile Office since 1987. Attorney Rondini-Harness represents children in delinquency proceedings, child in need of protection and services proceedings, and juvenile in need of protection and services proceedings. She also represents parents in termination of parental rights proceedings. Attorney Rondini-Harness is a 1984 graduate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a BA degree in Political Science and a certificate in Women’s Studies. She is a 1987 graduate of the University Of Wisconsin Law School. Ms. Rondini-Harness has served as an adjunct instructor at Bryant & Stratton College, teaching Criminal Courts and Juvenile Justice. Attorney Rondini-Harness is currently an adjunct professor at Marquette University in the College of Professional Studies. Courses taught include: Criminal Theory in Public Service and Social Policy, Special Topics: Children in Need of Protection and Services, Introduction to Criminology, Juvenile Justice, Ethics in the Criminal Justice System, and Women, Crime and the Law. Attorney Rondini-Harness has been a member of the College of Professional Studies Graduate Assessment Committee and the College of Professional Studies Undergraduate Curriculum Committee. She has also served as a faculty advisor to several students for independent study and the capstone experience. Ms. Rondini-Harness has been a guest lecturer in the Juvenile Justice course at Marquette University Law School, and was a volunteer speaker at the Marquette Law School Public Service Conference, “Leaping the Gaps for Children with Special Needs.” Attorney Rondini-Harness has participated in several juvenile certification trainings for the Wisconsin State Public Defender. She has served as a volunteer committee member on the United Way of Greater Milwaukee Healthy Girls Initiative, and as a volunteer advisory board member for the Confidentiality Project, a joint project between the Children’s Court Improvement Program and the Children’s Justice Act Program.
Vincent Rust has been employed by the Wisconsin State Public Defender’s office since 1995. Mr. Rust started with the SPD as an investigator in the Milwaukee Juvenile office. In 2002, he began working as an attorney in the Public Defender’s Kenosha office. Mr. Rust currently works in the SPD La Crosse office, represents our clients in cases ranging from Chapter 980 litigation to homicide litigation. Mr. Rust is one of the Forensic Practice Coordinators for the Wisconsin Public Defender’s Office.
Hon. Richard J. Sankovitz is a Circuit Court Judge in Milwaukee County. He was appointed in 1996. He has served three tours of duty in the criminal division. In addition to general felony and misdemeanor assignments, he has presided over every one of the court’s specialty calendars except the drug treatment court (domestic violence, drugs, gun court, and homicide/sexual assault). He has served a faculty member of the state Judicial College and regularly teaches at the Criminal Law and Sentencing Institute. He chairs the Criminal Benchbook Committee.
Barry Scheck’s more than thirty-five years of trial successes have earned him a national reputation. Barry’s criminal and civil trials have redefined and expanded the rights of victims of police misconduct and wrongful convictions throughout the United States.
For example, Barry represented George Rodriguez, who spent 17 years wrongly imprisoned for rape, in his civil rights trial against the City of Houston. Barry proved that when a Houston Police Department Crime Lab serologist fabricated evidence against Rodriguez, c ausing his wrongful conviction, he was not acting on his own. Rather, the fabrication of evidence was part of a persistent, widespread pattern of forensic misconduct at the Crime Lab, caused by systemic and deliberate failure to supervise crime lab personnel under pressure to obtain convictions at the expense of reliable science. As a result, Barry obtained a rare civil rights verdict holding the City of Houston itself responsible for Rodriguez’s wrongful conviction. In addition to his civil rights practice at NSB, Barry, along with NSB partner Peter Neufeld, cofounded and co-directs The Innocence Project at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. The Innocence Project has been responsible in whole or in part for exonerating most of the over 300 men and women to be cleared through post-conviction DNA testing.
Barry is also a Professor of Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law; in his over thirty years on the Cardozo faculty, he has served as the Director of Clinical Education, Co -Director of the Trial Advocacy Programs, and Co-Director of the Jacob Burns Center for the Study of Law and Ethics. He is a past president of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Barry has also taught trial practice, appellate advocacy, legal ethics and forensic sciences to judges, lawyers and students nationwide, including instructing at the National College of Criminal Defense Lawyers, NITA, and the NAACP annual training seminar for death penalty lawyers, and training lawyers in trial practice at major law firm s including Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP; and Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP. Prior to becoming a law professor and entering private practice, Barry was a staff attorney with The Legal Aid Society in the Bronx.
Hannah Schieber Jurss is an attorney in the Milwaukee Appellate Division of the Wisconsin Public Defender’s Office. Ms. Schieber is also the Appellate Training Coordinator for the State Public Defender's Office. She was named a 2013 Up and Coming Lawyer by the Wisconsin Law Journal, and has argued multiple cases before the Wisconsin State Supreme Court.
Charles Smart is the Manager of Youth Programs at The Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. Additionally, he is the co-founder and Executive Director of Monroe, Inc., an emerging non-profit minority LGBT service organization with the mission of improving the quality of life for culturally diverse LGBT individuals and their respective families through racial and social justice, capacity building, advocacy, service navigation, programming, community mobilization and engagement. Mr. Smart has more than five years’ experience in sexual health promotion, HIV prevention, youth development and several years of experience working within disenfranchised subgroups, including: providing technical assistance and consultation to organizations on engaging subgroups/subsets within the LGBT community, implementing sustainable strategies, and developing youth leaders’ and groups’ capacity to address health disparities within their own community. He has recently been recognized by POZ magazine, celebrating 100 youth leaders under 30 on HIV/AIDS, as a result of these effective and streamlined methods of service. In addition, he is a member of the State of Wisconsin Statewide Action Planning Group.
Michael Soukup is criminal defense attorney in practice with Matthew Pinix. After graduating law school from Loyola University of Chicago, Mr. Soukup worked in Illinois as an Assistant Appellate Defender with the State Appellate Defender in Chicago. At that office, he worked exclusively in criminal appeals, including representation of children in appeals from both juvenile court and the adult criminal justice system.
In 2012, Mr. Soukup moved to Madison, Wisconsin, where he continued to represent indigent persons appealing their criminal convictions, through appointments by the State Public Defender’s office. In 2013, he joined attorney Pinix’s firm. Currently, his work primarily consists of representing people in their criminal appeals, and he has clients in both Wisconsin and Illinois. Mr. Soukup has also represented persons appealing termination of their parental rights.
Kathleen B. Stilling is a partner in the Brookfield law firm of Buting, Williams & Stilling, S.C. She returned to the firm in 2011 after serving her term as a Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge, where her legal knowledge and professionalism were widely recognized. As a judge, Attorney Stilling presided over criminal jury trials, motion hearings, sentencing hearings and post-conviction cases.
She received her undergraduate degree and her law degree from the University of Wisconsin. She is a founding member and past president of the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Association for Women Lawyers.
Attorney Stilling was an Assistant State Public Defender in the Milwaukee trial office from 1981 - 1989 and her present private practice is entirely criminal defense, both trials and appeals. She defends adult and juvenile clients in cases involving sexual offenses, drugs, alcohol and domestic violence. She lectures in the areas of sexual assault cases, ethics and trial practice. One of her articles has become a popular primer on defense of child sexual cases. WISN radio host Mark Belling called her the "Go-to lawyer in the state of Wisconsin" for child sex cases. (air date: July 12, 2010).
Dr. Luck Subramanian has been the Director of the Sand Ridge Evaluation Unit since June 2014. She has worked in the field of sexually violent person evaluations since 2006.
Melinda Swartz of the Law Office of Melinda Swartz LLC, is a criminal defense attorney in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, whose practice focuses on criminal appeals. She is a member of the Wisconsin State Bar and the Wisconsin Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Ms. Swartz, a cum laude graduate of both Carleton College and the University of Minnesota Law School, previously worked for the State of Wisconsin Public Defender for 22 years in the Milwaukee Criminal Trial Office (6 years) and the Milwaukee Appellate Office (16 years).
Devin Thomas completed her Bachelor of Social Work at University of St. Thomas and went on to complete her Masters in Social Work at University of Illinois – Chicago where she studied Community Health and Urban Development. Devin has experience working with queer and HIV affected populations specifically around issues of violence, trauma, mental health and homelessness. Devin currently manages the Counseling and Anti- Violence Program at the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center. Devin uses she/her/hers or they/them/theirs pronouns.
Michael Tobin has worked for the Wisconsin State Public Defender for over 30 years, starting as a staff attorney and subsequently serving as a regional supervisor, director of the trial division, and deputy state public defender. Mr. Tobin has spoken at numerous state and national training programs. He has written a number of supplements to the State Bar’s Wisconsin Criminal Defense Manual, and is also a co-author of Thomson West’s Wisconsin Criminal Practice and Procedure. He has also written or co-written several national reports on indigent defense issues including articles on collateral consequences and risk assessments.
Mr. Tobin presently serves on the State Courts’ Effective Justice Strategies subcommittee, the State Criminal Justice Coordinating Council subcommittee on Evidence-Based Practices, the State Council on Offender Reentry, and the executive committee of NLADA’s Defenders Council.
Joshua D. Uller is a criminal defense attorney in Milwaukee. He practices in state and federal trial courts throughout Wisconsin as well as the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago.
Michelle Velasquez is a staff attorney in the Milwaukee Appellate Office of the State Public Defender. She interned in that office as a third year law student. Before joining the SPD Ms. Velasquez worked as a staff attorney at Centro Legal in Milwaukee. She started in the Madison Appellate Office in October, 2012 and transferred to Milwaukee in June, 2014. Ms. Velasquez is a fluent Spanish-speaker and approximately half of her clients are Spanish-speaking. She litigated State v. Fernando Ortiz-Mondragon and is interested in the intersection of immigration and criminal law.
Deja Vishny has practiced criminal defense for over 33 years with the SPD. She began her practice in the Racine office and transferred to Milwaukee after four years. In 1990 she became a local office attorney manager in the Milwaukee Trial office and began a training program for that office. In the late 1990's the Milwaukee trial office began a Homicide Practice Group headed by Attorney Vishny and her practice has been concentrated in homicide defense since then. Around the same time, she became a statewide training coordinator for the agency. Vishny is on the faculty at the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, and is an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at Marquette University Law School. She has taught at numerous seminars on trial and motion practice throughout the United States and in India and is particularly known for speaking about police interrogation and defending confession cases. She is a faculty member at the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, and an Adjunct Professor of Trial Advocacy at Marquette University Law School. She served two terms on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is currently a Vice Chair of CLE for that organization. She also served several terms on the Board of the Wisconsin State Bar Criminal Law Section. She is currently writing a book on litigating suppression motions due to be published in 2014 by the James Publishing Company.
Patrick Waters attended law school at DePaul in Chicago and graduated in 2007. Shortly after graduating, he moved to Madison and opened a law firm which specialized in criminal and family law. In 2013, Mr. Waters was hired as a staff attorney with the State Public Defender's Office and began practicing in the Eau Claire Trial Office. He is a member of the Eau Claire County Mental Health Court and is also board member and treasurer of the Wisconsin Association of Treatment Court Professionals. Mr. Waters is also a board member of the Eau Claire County Alliance Against Substance Abuse, has spoken on several occasions to high school students on the addictions and problems associated with the use of methamphetamine and volunteers at the Eau Claire Free Legal Clinic. He has litigated issues surrounding domestic abuse.
Dr. Clarence Watson is a native of Philadelphia, PA who received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical College and his law degree from Villanova University School of Law. He completed medical residency training in psychiatry at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia and fellowship training in forensic psychiatry at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Manhattan, NY. Dr. Watson is board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in general psychiatry and forensic psychiatry and is a member of the American Psychiatric Association. He holds medical licenses in Pennsylvania, New York and Delaware. Prior to his practice as a physician, Dr. Watson practiced law in Pennsylvania.
In addition to his experience in the diagnosis and treatment of general psychiatric disorders, Dr. Watson has extensive experience with violence risk assessments; the impact of psychiatric illness on criminal behavior; and the treatment of criminal offenders with psychiatric illnesses.
Dr. Watson has also lectured extensively on such topics as: general mental health; treatment of psychiatric disorders; competency to make medical decisions; crime and mental illness; stalking; internet sexual predators; sleepwalking violence; false confessions and filicide (murder of children by their parents).
Bill Wolf is a Supervising Assistant Public Defender with the Cook County Public Defender’s Office in the Rolling Meadows Courthouse Division. Mr. Wolf has been a member of the Office for the last 21 years, until he recently became a supervisor he was assigned to the Office’s Homicide Task Force for 11 years. There, he defended homicide cases at the trial level. He also defended death penalty cases before the State of Illinois abolished the death penalty. Mr. Wolf served as local counsel for the Innocence Project in their representation of Jerry Miller, the 200th DNA exoneration in the United States. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is also a Past President of the Illinois Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. Mr. Wolf has lectured and written on criminal defense issues relating mostly to trial defense in cases involving expert witnesses, interrogations, and death penalty litigation. He also teaches Trial Advocacy at the John Marshall Law School.
Katie York attended law school in San Francisco at Golden Gate University. In 2007, Ms. York moved back to Wisconsin and accepted a position with the Wisconsin State Public Defender in the Green Bay trial office. In 2010, she transferred to the Madison Appellate office where handles appeals for adult criminal cases, sexually violent person commitments, mental health commitments, and protective placement cases.
Michelle Zaccard has been a Policy Analyst with the Wisconsin Children’s Court Improvement Program since January of 2015. Ms. Zaccard spent over 10 years as an Assistant Corporation Counsel with Walworth County, working on CHIPS, JIPS, TPRS, civil mental Commitments and Guardianship cases. She was an Assistant District Attorney for Racine County from 1999 to 2004 and served on the 2012 Legislative Study Committee on Young Children in the Child Welfare System and the Active Efforts Subcommittee. Ms. Zaccard has presented at several trainings and is currently working on a Child Safety Decision Making Model Program set to begin in Waukesha County. She lives in Delavan, Wisconsin with her husband and children.