Case, Staff, DREAM, Community & Intern News!
Case News:
Detention Appeal Win!
Tacoma AFDs Becky Fish and Liz Sher, along with Tacoma paralegal Carolynn Cohn, and Seattle investigator Mahkaea Jackson-Sams collaborated to successfully win a detention appeal and get our client released to long-term residential treatment. The client was initially detained following a detention hearing before a Magistrate Court. Becky and Liz appealed the detention order to the District Court Judge and continued to explore different treatment and supportive housing options for our client. The District Court Judge asked for a concrete housing plan to follow treatment, and the defense team continued to work together with community providers to get this plan in place. After solidifying a different plan that included long-term residential treatment followed by a supportive housing plan for after treatment, Becky and Liz filed a motion to reopen detention before the district court judge. The day before the hearing, the United States Probation Office (USPO) verified the information changed their position to support the client’s release. Soon after receiving the USPO’s updated recommendation, the government also agreed with the new plan. Parties appeared before the District Judge the following day and the judge granted the now-unopposed request for release to treatment and supportive housing. Congrats to our client and wonderful work by their defense team!
Legal intern Selena Coppa-Caldera successfully argued for dismissal of a theft of government property charge. Selena spotted issues with the government’s charging document and challenged the charge for lack of probable cause. She successfully rebutted the government’s arguments in support of its charge and persuaded the Judge to dismiss the case. Amazing news for our client and exceptional work by Selena!
Staff News:
Welcome our New Social Worker/Mitigation Specialist Kelly Trujillo!
Kelly is a licensed clinical social worker and is joining us from the Northwest Defenders Division of King County DPD. She previously worked for the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services & Justice Resource Institute and the Massachusetts Committee for Public Counsel Services, among other positions, and has Master degrees in Social Work and Social Justice & Human Rights. Kelly is committed to “creating a culture of mutual respect, collaboration, openness, and humility that honors the people we are privileged to represent,” and her co-workers describe her as “amazing to work with,” “caring and compassionate,” “funny and passionate,” and known for “educating a lot of judges.” We are thrilled that our social work department is growing and welcome Kelly to our FPD team!
We celebrated Kelly and our new Tacoma AFD Lindsay McCaslin (who starts in July) with a swearing in and potluck!
Seattle social worker/mitigation specialist, Amanda Merfeld, presented at the 2024 National Conference for the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) in Washington D.C. about mass incarceration and the need for criminal defense based social workers. The presentation contained research on mass incarceration, examples of anonymized case outcomes, information on Gideon v. Wainwright, a breakdown of what a criminal defense based social worker does, processes of criminal case proceedings, and information on how social workers are an integral part of helping clients improve both their case outcome and quality of life. Great work, Amanda!
Seattle paralegal Janet Stanton presented her documentary, titled “Mark Cook: Inside and Out” to the local criminal defense community and we were lucky to have Mark Cook in attendance as well, to answer questions after the movie. You can view this wonderful film on Janet’s YouTube channel.
Documentary description: Mark Cook has struggled against racism and all social injustice his entire life. Now in his late 80's, Mark continues to champion the values he adopted when first introduced to the Black Panther Party as a young man in prison in the 1960's. Mark is a beloved and inspiring activist in the community where he carries on the fight for justice to this day. His dedication to all prisoners and workers of the world is a testament to the power of organizing the oppressed in struggle.
DREAM News
Two clients graduated from DREAM in June, with the Court dismissing their cases at an in-person hearing in June. Both P. and M. were charged by the government for their involvement in drug trafficking and each struggled with a significant substance use disorder. M. was a part of a larger drug conspiracy and P. sold drugs on the dark web, each supporting their own habits by selling to others. Had he been convicted as charged, P. would have faced mandatory prison sentence of at least five years. Instead, he was able to address his substance use disorder, continue to work, and became a mentor for others in the program. Similarly, M. continued to work, often 50-60 hours a week, while engaging in treatment, helping his family, and learning to ask for help when he needs it. We are certain the world is better place with P. and M. contributing to their communities and wish them and their families all of the best.
Community News:
The Defender softball season is well underway! The Defender team, which has players from both our office and others in the local criminal defense community is currently in first place! Reach out to the players in the photos to ask about their schedule and come cheer them on!
Intern News:
We welcomed two new undergrad interns in June!
We welcomed three new legal interns in June!
A handful of our interns were able to attend the “Meet the New District Court Judges” event and marked the occasion with a photo!
Seattle AFD Andy Kennedy and our legal interns cheered on the Seattle Mariner’s during Andy’s annual “take the summer legal interns to a baseball game” tradition!
Intern Updates:
Jared Rothenberg, who interned with us during the summer of 2022 as a rising 2L at The University of Washington School of Law, will begin his public defender career in Seattle! Jared was recently hired by the King County Department of Public Defense, ACA division and will start in the Fall. Congrats Jared, we are excited to follow your public defender career!
Arthur Etter, who interned with us last summer as a rising 2L at Michigan shared the exciting news that he will be clerking for a Sixth Circuit Judge for the 2025-26 term and for the N.D. Cal. district court Judge for the 2026-2027 term. Arthur is thrilled as both judges have strong public interest backgrounds. Congrats Arthur!
Sahil Nerurkar, who interned with us in the summer of 2022 as a rising 2L at Stanford will be clerking with the Chief Judge in Chicago for the 2024-2025 term and with a Seventh Circuit Judge for the 2025-2026 term. Congratulations to Sahil!