Public Defenseless

Anyone paying attention can tell you that our criminal legal system is perpetuating cruelty and harm, but the complexity of the legal world overwhelms most people simply trying to get through another day. Public Defenseless explores the rot in the justice system and what we can do about it. Join host, Hunter Parnell, as he interviews top defense attorneys and criminal justice stakeholders from across the country as they pull apart the convoluted web of our criminal justice system. Like so many of you, Hunter is not an attorney, simply tired of a news cycle and talking heads that offer no real solutions to the ever-growing list of problems we face. Hunter hopes that with this information, you will share his belief that ordinary people still can make a difference.

450 | How Has New York's Bail Reform Laws Impacted Public Safety? w/Rene Ropac 02/26/2026

449 | How the People of Minneapolis Organized to Resist ICE, CBP, and DHS w/Brandon Garcia, Maggie Bott, and Bob Kolstad 02/25/2026

448 | How the History of the New York Police Department Reveals the Essential Problems with Policing w/Matthew Guariglia 02/24/2026

447 | Why did an Oregon Public Defender Sue the Oregon Public Defense Commission? Part 2 w/Stacey Lowe 02/18/2026

447 | Why did an Oregon Public Defender Sue the Oregon Public Defense Commission? Part 2 w/Stacey Lowe Today, Hunter spoke w/Stacey Lowe, Executive Director of the Southwest Oregon Public Defender Services. They discussed why Stacey joined Shannon Wilson’s lawsuit challenging the new contract conditions put in place by the Oregon Public Defense Commission. Guest: Stacey Lowe, Executive Director, Southwest Oregon Public Defender Services Resources: SWOPDS Contact Stacey Read More About the Suit OPDC Response “We are unable to comment on pending litigation, but for questions about workload standards, I refer you to pages 20-22 (pages 26-28 in the search) of our recent . The section on long-term planning describes our goal of transitioning to a workload model. For questions about contracts, I encourage you to , where you can find the following information:   Contracts for 2025-2027 Contracts for 2023-2025 A timeline of the contracting process, which included soliciting contractors’ feedback on draft contracts through online feedback forms. We also held informational sessions for contractors. Our responses to questions that public defense providers asked while reviewing drafts of the contracts. Maximum attorney caseloads (MAC) – Click on Contracts 2023-2025 and scroll down to “What are the Maximum Attorney Caseloads under the 2023-25 contracts?” OPDC’s contracts are based on maximum attorney caseloads. The MAC standards in the 2025-2027 contracts are identical to those that were in the 2023-2025 contracts. The MAC standards can be found in Exhibit B of the . They are listed on page 19 under the section titled Rolling Annual Caseload Limits. They are listed on page B-1 under Annual Caseload Limits in the .” Sign up for the ABA Public Defender Summit Contact Hunter Parnell: @PublicDefenselessPodcast @PDefenselessPod Subscribe to the Patreon Donate on PayPal Donate on Stripe Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show! /episode/index/show/publicdefenseless/id/40136675