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My year as President of NACDL is coming to an end, and I can’t believe how quickly it has passed. By mid-June, I will be back home in New Mexico; and by the end of July, my term will be over. I am delighted to be turning the Presidency over to Marty Pinales at the Miami meeting. He is going to be a wonderful President.
Meanwhile, since this is my last column, I wanted to take this opportunity to thank Richard Bing for his never-ending patience as I struggled to get this column written before my final, final deadline expired. I write this with some sadness for this is also Richard’s last issue as editor of The Champion. Richard is retiring in July after serving as The Champion’s editor for over 15 years. We will miss you, Richard, as well as your tireless work on behalf of NACDL, which has made The Champion such a unique and valuable publication.
In this time of transition, Quintin Chatman will be taking over as editor beginning with the August issue. Quintin comes to us with extensive experience, including having served as an editor at Pike & Fischer for 15 years after receiving his J.D. from the University of South Carolina. Please join me in welcoming him to NACDL. (I also know that he would appreciate your submitting articles for possible publication in upcoming issues.)
So much has happened this year. As I look back on it, we started in August when disaster struck the Gulf Coast with Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. That wasn’t in my anticipated projects for the year, but the NACDL response was magnificent. I still run into people who received the financial assistance that NACDL’s Foundation provided who tell me that they tried to write thank you notes but still had trouble putting down on paper how much the help meant to them.
With Barry Scheck’s assistance and the work of Tanya Greene, our former death penalty counsel, NACDL has been an active member of the National Consortium for Capital Defense Training. The Consortium put on five trainings throughout the year for trial attorneys in state capital cases that were funded by a $450,000 grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance. We hope to continue that work this coming year with an additional grant of $310,000 from the BJA.
NACDL committees also continue their phenomenal work. For example, the Law Enforcement Misconduct Committee expanded its duties to address prosecutorial misconduct issues. That committee, at the request of our state affiliate, asked me to send a letter to Michael D. Parker, the District Attorney in Monroe, North Carolina, urging him to recuse himself so that a special prosecutor could be appointed to investigate allegations of felonious conduct by two former district attorneys in State v. Hoffman, a capital prosecution. Both former prosecutors had been accused by the North Carolina State Bar of withholding exculpatory information and committing acts which, if proved, would constitute the crimes of felony obstruction of justice and subornation of perjury. I sent the letter that was widely reported in the Charlotte Observer. I am delighted to report that Mr. Parker recently stepped aside in favor of the appointment of a special prosecutor.
The Amicus Committee has also rightfully earned its reputation as a powerful voice for criminal defendants before the Supreme Court. The Strike Force continues to work with attorneys who need assistance as they try to zealously represent their clients and get in trouble with the courts. I could go on through the list of all the committees in the handbook and describe the amazing work they have done — but space does not permit me to do so — and Richard is waiting for this column.
Meanwhile, the extraordinary staff that Ralph Grunewald, our executive director, has put together has enabled NACDL to be at the forefront of so many issues. I cannot begin to list all the work that the staff has done this year, but a few highlights include the work of Stephanie Martz, our white collar crime project director. She not only oversaw the creation of an excellent stand-alone white collar seminar at Georgetown Law School but she also persuaded the Sentencing Commission to remove language from the Organizational Guidelines that allowed judges to consider whether a corporation had waived its attorney-client privilege as part of assessing acceptance of responsibility. Scott Ehlers, our state legislative director, urged us to create a task force to review sex offender legislation around the country, and we did so at the spring Board meeting in Philadelphia.
Despite all the issues in which we are now involved, one aspect of NACDL, however, has never changed. The willingness of our members to help other criminal defense lawyers who need assistance has never wavered. I was reminded of that recently when I attended the annual seminar of the Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in Sarasota. One of the attorneys at that program came up to me afterwards and mentioned that he had been delighted to provide assistance to us on the Terry Nichols defense team in the Oklahoma state prosecution. I remembered how we had been desperately trying to find a witness who had relocated to Florida and preferred not to be found. We turned to the NACDL membership handbook which led us to this attorney. He never hesitated and his assistance was invaluable to us. When I tried to thank him, he said that he was honored to be asked to help. Throughout the course of Terry’s trial, we called on more NACDL members than I can even remember. Everyone we called was there when we needed them. I think that is one of the most valuable aspects of being a member of NACDL. You realize very quickly that you are not alone, that no matter what you may need, someone will be there to help you, and that the friends you make in NACDL truly are “family” in every sense of the word.
This is an exciting time to be part of NACDL. While we face many challenges, that is nothing new for criminal defense lawyers. I have great hopes for what NACDL will be doing in the years ahead on issues such as indigent defense, the death penalty, forensic evidence, juvenile justice, draconian sentencing laws, and so many other topics. And I am confident that I will not be disappointed.
