Public Defenseless

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
https://swopds.org/
 
Contact Stacey
 [email protected]
 
Read More About the Suit
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/oregon/2025/11/15/court-opdc-marion-county-public-defenders-contract/87279929007/
https://www.pdmarion.org/information-for-the-media
https://kobi5.com/news/top-stories/southern-oregon-public-defense-success-clouded-by-quota-lawsuit-288302/
 
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 status report. The section on long-term planning describes our goal of transitioning to a workload model.  
 
For questions about contracts, I encourage you to visit our website, 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 2025-2027 contracts. 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 2023- 2025 contracts." 
 
 
Sign up for the ABA Public Defender Summit
https://events.americanbar.org/event/12d07164-1011-4723-9352-e8e3168db945/welcome
 
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                
[email protected] 
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@PublicDefenselessPodcast
Twitter                                                                
@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.com 
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Today, Hunter spoke w/Shannon Wilson and Stephen Hanlon. Last fall, Shannon, the Executive Director of the Marion County Public Defender, filed a lawsuit against the Oregon Public Defense Commission to challenge new requirements in Oregon Public Defender contracts. Now, Shannon and Stephen join the show to explain why and what comes next for Oregon Public Defense.
 
Guest:
Shannon Wilson, Executive Director, Marion County Public Defender, Oregon
Stephen Hanlon, Public Interest Lawyer
 
Resources:
Contact Shannon
https://www.pdmarion.org/shannon-wilson
Read More About the Suit
https://www.statesmanjournal.com/story/news/local/oregon/2025/11/15/court-opdc-marion-county-public-defenders-contract/87279929007/
https://www.pdmarion.org/information-for-the-media
https://kobi5.com/news/top-stories/southern-oregon-public-defense-success-clouded-by-quota-lawsuit-288302/
Contact Stephen
https://lawyerhanlon.com/
 
Sign up for the ABA Public Defender Summit
https://events.americanbar.org/event/12d07164-1011-4723-9352-e8e3168db945/welcome
 
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                
[email protected] 
Instagram
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
Twitter                                                                
@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.com 
Subscribe to the Patreon
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
 Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
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Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!
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Today, Hunter was joined once again by Emily Galvin Almanza, the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Partners for Justice and author of a new book, The Price of Mercy. In it, Emily expertly weaves together stories from her decades of work in Public Defense with social science that shows the benefits of non-carceral solutions to public safety issues.
 
Guest:
Emily Galvin Almanza, Author, The Price of Mercy, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Partners for Justice
 
Resources:
Pick up a Copy of the Book!!
https://www.emilygalvinalmanza.com/
Follow Emily on Social Media
https://x.com/GalvinAlmanza
https://bsky.app/profile/galvinalmanza.bsky.social
 
Sign up for the ABA Public Defender Summit
https://events.americanbar.org/event/12d07164-1011-4723-9352-e8e3168db945/welcome
 
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                
[email protected] 
Instagram
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
Twitter                                                                
@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.com 
Subscribe to the Patreon
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
 Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!
https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home

Today, Hunter was joined by Luke Brownfield, the Chief Public Defender in Humboldt County, California. With a shortage of attorneys willing to come to the county and the county being short on funding, Luke and his team face serious issues with workloads. Without more support from the state, it is unclear how Luke and his team will tackle the workload crisis without going unavailable like the San Francisco Public Defender Office.
 
Guest:
Luke Brownfield, Chief Public Defender, Humboldt County, California
 
Resources:
Read the Report
https://lostcoastoutpost.com/2025/jul/31/public-defenders-office-overworked-underfunded-and/
Contact the Office
https://humboldtgov.org/Directory/Home/DepartmentListing?DID=22
 
 
Sign up for the ABA Public Defender Summit
https://events.americanbar.org/event/12d07164-1011-4723-9352-e8e3168db945/welcome
 
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                
[email protected] 
Instagram
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
Twitter                                                                
@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.com 
Subscribe to the Patreon
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
 Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!
https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home

Today, Hunter was joined by Judyanne Vallado, the Chief Public Defender in San Joaquin County, California. With a tough on crime DA and large amounts of gun crime, the San Joaquin County Public Defenders have long delt with difficult workloads, but now, with Prop 36 prosecutions increasing felony charges, the office may soon have to make the choice about when enough is enough.
 
Guest:
Judyanne Vallado, Chief Public Defender, San Joaquin County, California
 
Resources:
Learn more about the Office Here
https://www.sjgov.org/department/pubdef/home
https://www.instagram.com/sjcpublicdefender/?hl=en
Contact Judyanne
[email protected]
Read more about issues in the County
 https://www.recordnet.com/story/news/politics/government/2024/11/27/stockton-declares-local-homelessness-emergency-toughens-camping-ban/76490580007/?gnt-cfr=1&gca-cat=p&gca-uir=true&gca-epti=z118989d00----v118989b0089xxd118965&gca-ft=101&gca-ds=sophi
https://www.sjgov.org/department/bos/board-news/board-news-detail/2025/09/10/sjc-board-and-probation-celebrate-sj-cares
 
Sign up for the ABA Public Defender Summit
https://events.americanbar.org/event/12d07164-1011-4723-9352-e8e3168db945/welcome
 
 
Contact Hunter Parnell:                                
[email protected] 
Instagram
@PublicDefenselessPodcast
Twitter                                                                
@PDefenselessPod
www.publicdefenseless.com 
Subscribe to the Patreon
www.patreon.com/PublicDefenselessPodcast
 Donate on PayPal
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=5KW7WMJWEXTAJ
Donate on Stripe
https://donate.stripe.com/7sI01tb2v3dwaM8cMN
Trying to find a specific part of an episode? Use this link to search transcripts of every episode of the show!
https://app.reduct.video/o/eca54fbf9f/p/d543070e6a/share/c34e85194394723d4131/home