"Winning Strategies for the Defense"

LOCATION: St. Regis Hotel, Aspen, CO
DATES: January 19-23, 2020

"The Gris-Gris of Voir Dire"

LOCATION: Royal Sonesta Hotel, New Orleans, LA
DATES: October 16-18, 2019

Often, the process of jury selection is akin to making sausage — the process is ugly but the finished product is a thing of beauty. Witness a recent aggravated assault with a deadly weapon prosecution: An argument in a bar escalated into a serious confrontation involving deadly weapons outside. A jury was left to sort out criminal culpability or lack thereof.

Voir Dire presented by Martín Sabelli, attorney, San Francisco, CA

Race Matters I: The Impact of Race on Criminal Justice
September 14-15, 2017 | Detroit, MI

Voir Dire of Jury Panel in Arson Case

Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in support of petitioner and urging reversal.

Argument: The theft-of-honest-services statute¸18 U.S.C. §1346, is void for vagueness; also, the presumption of prejudice that arises from intense community hostility and pervasive adverse publicity cannot be rebutted through voir dire.

Amicus curiae brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar in support of the petition for writ of certiorari.

Argument: A state jury convicted the petitioner, a Muslim, of a number of charges arising out of alleged abuse of his live-in female housekeeper. Before the jury was sworn, a juror informed the court that he held certain views about Islam that might impair his ability to be fair and impartial. The trial court refused to excuse the juror or allow additional questioning related to his expressed bias. Brief argues that Colorado’s “clear” or “unequivocal” expression of bias standard flouts U.S. Supreme Court precedents and its refusal to acknowledge the “significant likelihood” of bias test or to allow criminal defendants to probe potential invidious prejudices makes the state an outlier.

Brief of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers as Amicus Curiae in Support of Petitioner (cert. stage).

Argument: The Court should grant the writ to protect the Sixth Amendment right to an unbiased jury. The critical question is whether a trial court must, at a minimum, ask potential jurors who admit exposure to highly prejudiced pretrial publicity if they have formed opinions about guilt and allow further questioning to uncover bias. The Alabama Supreme Court said no, holding that courts may rely on those jurors' collective, untested assurance that they can be fair. That ruling conflicts with decisions of this Court and must be corrected.

Voir Dire presented by Kyana Givens, Assistant Federal Defender, Federal Public Defender Western District of Washington (Seattle)

Race Matters I: The Impact of Race on Criminal Justice
September 14-15, 2017 | Detroit, MI