National Defender Investigator Association 2013 National Conference Agenda

SPONSORED BY LEXIS-NEXIS

NDIA National Conference April 3-5, 2013 in Seattle

Go to www.ndia.net to register

 

FINAL AGENDA

 

Wednesday 4/3/13

10:00am- 2:30 pm 

 

Registration

        11:30-12:45pm

Metropolitan Ballroom B, 3rd floor

General Session

“Sentencing and Punishment”

•

Deborah Ahrens, Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA

2:30 -4:30pm

“Report Writing”  

•

Larry Carlson, Investigator, Washoe County Public Defender, Reno, NV

Dinner on own

Thursday 4/4/13

8:00-8:45am ​

Continental Breakfast & Registration (continued)

Metropolitan Ballroom Pre-function Area, 3rd floor

8:45-9:00am

Metropolitan Ballroom

Welcome & Opening Remarks

•

Teri Moore, NDIA President

9:00-10:30am  

GENERAL SESSION​

Metropolitan Ballroom B, 3rd floor

“The Investigator’s Most Powerful Tool” 

•

Jonathan Lyon, Private Investigator, Chicago, IL

Course Description: A conversation of an under -recognized and familiar tool to enhance your case outcome.

A low-tech tool in a high-tech world.

10:45-12:00pm​

GENERAL SESSION

Metropolitan Ballroom B, 3rd floor

“Forensic Entomology and Forensic Ecology in CriminalInvestigations” 

•

Bethany Marshall, PhD., Forensic Entomologist,Washington State University, Pullman, WA

Lunch on own

1:30- 2:45pm ​

BREAKOUTS

SESSION I

Metropolitan Ballroom B, 3rd floor

“How Data and Investigation of Bias Policing Practices Led to the Creation of LEAD”

•

Hong Tran, Attorney, The Defender Association, Seattle WA

Course Description:  Using data and discovery to root out racially based policing practices AND how such efforts led to the creation of an innovation drug program called LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion)

SESSION II

Ravena, 3rd floor

“Youth as a Mitigating Factor; Scientific Evidence Surrounding Brain Development”

•

Cindy Arends Elsberry, Attorney, Washington Defender Association, Seattle, WA

3:00- 4:30 pm​

BREAKOUTS

SESSION I

Metropolitan Ballroom B, 3rd floor

“Interview Techniques”

•

Travis Stearns, Attorney, Washington Defender Association, Seattle, WA

•

Janna Richards, Investigator, Associated Counsel for the Accused, Seattle, WA

SESSION II

Ravena, 3rd floor

Metropolitan Ballroom B, 3rd floor​

“What’s Left Behind When you Search the Internet”

•

Jonathan Lyon, Private Investigator, Chicago, IL

Course Description: When you turn on your computer, they know where you were and what you did: understand how the simple use of a computer, or cell phone, creates a comprehensive and easily obtained digital biography.

When you simply log n, save a file, surf the Internet, use Social Networking, tweet or dare to use Google, you leave a digital biography behind which is easy to find.  Then there are smartphones: leaving behind enough information to make any investigator jump for joy. It is frightening, the detailed digital information we and our clients leave behind for law enforcement to obtain. At the same time we need to understand what our co-defendants and witnesses are leaving out there. A truly amazing talk which will leave you in awe and better prepared to deal with the brave new world of technology.

                             

4:30-5:00 pm

Metropolitan Ballroom B, 3rd floor

General Business Meeting

​​​​​

5:30pm​

Hospitality, Hotel Bar, “Lobby Lounge” 1st floor

Friday, 4/5

8:15-9:00am  

Continental breakfast

Metropolitan Ballroom Pre-function Area, 3rd floor

9:00-10:45am

GENERAL SESSION

Metropolitan Ballroom B​

“False Confessions”

•

Dr. Deborah Davis, Psychologist, University of Nevada-Reno, Reno, NV

Course Description: The phenomenon of false confessions in the American criminal justice system, which remains one of the most prominent causes of wrongful convictions.  Why do false confessions occur and what happens to suspects who make false confessions as their cases continue through the legal system? Why false confessions continue to remain unrecognized as such by police, attorneys, judges and juries who assess them.

11:00-12:15pm

BREAKOUTS

SESSION I

Ravena, 3rd floor

“Winning Strategies for the Indigent Defense Investigator”

•

Victor Torres, Private Investigator, VMT Investigations, Riverside, CA

Course Description: A case study of proactive investigative strategies, incorporating lesion, computer software tools such asCaseMap, TimeMap, Powerpoint, Visio Graphics, Acrobat Professional, to assist with case analysis, networking, team building and familiarity with law enforcement practices.

SESSION II

Metropolitan B, 3rd floor

“Interviewing Child Witnesses”

•

Amy Muth, Attorney, Law Office of Amy Muth, Seattle, WA

Lunch on own

1:30- 2:45 pm​

BREAKOUTS

​  ​

SESSION I

Issaquah, 3rd floor

“Trauma: Dealing with Your Client’s and Dealing with Your Own”  

•

Cindy Arends Elsberry, Attorney, Washington Defender Association, Seattle, WA

Course Description: How to represent clients with a history of trauma, or PTSD, and how do we stay healthy doing the hard work of indigent defense?

SESSION II

Metropolitan B, 3rd floor

“Race and the Criminal Jury”

•

Anna Roberts, Assistant Professor of Law, Seattle University School of Law, Seattle, WA

3:00- 4:30pm ​

BREAKOUTS

SESSION I

Ravena, 3rd floor

“Cultural Issues in Criminal Defense”

Human communication is either what separates us from plants or makes it absolutely impossible to get meaningful information from a human.  This extremely interactive presentation might shed light on the overplayed and seldom scrutinized subject of intercultural communication and the bridges and obstacles that inform it.

•

Cristina Castro, Investigator, Portland, OR

SESSION II

Metrpolitan B, 3rd floor

“Safety in the Field

•

David Young, Investigator, Office of the Public Defender, Paterson, NJ

                                       OR

“Attorney/Investigator Relationships: the Defense Team Approach”  (not confirmed)

•

Edwin Aralica, Attorney, Associated Counsel for the Accused”, Kent, WA

4:30-4:45pm

Metropolitan B, 3rd floor

NDIA Closing Remarks

 

 

 

This Message is Brought to you Courtesy of AFCIA
(American Federal Contract Investigators Association)
http://afcia.us/

For those of you who may be conducting independent contracting, the following may apply:
...

Equifax Security Warning

Equifax Corporate Security has received notice that businesses are receiving fraudulent letters appearing to be from Equifax. These letters request that current or potential contractors register by submitting their company's financial information on a release form entitled, "Authorization to release financial information". Sample from this letter:

"Our records show that you are currently registered as a prospective contractor for procurements listed by the U.S. Federal Government. However after reviewing your records we have noticed that you have not submitted your financial release form. Your financial institution's privacy policy may not allow it to release your financial information even to government institutions without your consent, therefore we must have such form on file before we can move on with any procurement decisions."

The Authorization to release financial information requests that you provide the name of your financial institution and the account number and fax to (202) 652-4312.

This letter is a scam and not from Equifax. Other versions of this letter have been sent out to businesses purporting to be from the Department of Transportation as well as from other companies. These letters are a fraudulent means to obtain financial information. Please discard these letters.

If you have responded to this fraudulent letter, contact your financial institution immediately.

www.ndia.net

National Defender Investigator Association

CONFERENCE AGENDA

Thursday September 6, 2012

REGISTRATION and CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Granting of a New Trial Motion in Civil Rights Rape Conviction

Capital Investigations

Derivative Citizenship: Investigating and Documenting the Familial History

Sentencing Mitigation

Report Writing 101 – A Multi-Jurisdictional Discussion

Electronic Sources of Information

HOSPITALITY GATHERING

Friday September 7, 2012

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Getting a Criminal Case Prepared for Trial Using the Team Approach

Cellular Forensics

Defending Computer Based Child Pornography Cases

Computer Forensics

Freeing the Innocent Client: The Michael Morton Case

DESIGNER LABELS

It's not illegal to be a gang member. The US Constitution guarantees everyone the right to freedom of association and this association is the essence of gang membership. Gangs have their own distinct culture, adopt particular modes of dress, and use signs, symbols and code words to identify their members. This is also true of many other fraternal organizations but if being a Blood or a Crip was per se illegal, membership in the Rotary Club could also be banned. It's somewhat ironic that street gangs as social entities receive the same protections as any civic organization.

This is not to say that the Rotary Club is a subversive or criminal organization. On the contrary, clubs like these, work for the benefit of society as a whole. Urban street gangs, engaging in criminal activities do not. The operative phrase, of course is "engaging in criminal activities" so that an organization's focus and its members' activities can be suppressed by law enforcement. But first, the police need to have means of distinguishing gang bangers from Rotarians.

How do they do it?

Jimmy G hears through the grapevine that some detectives want to talk to him about a recent homicide. He knows he's not involved so  he does the right thing and reports to the local precinct to see if he can be of assistance. When he gets there, several detectives from the Gang Investigation Unit sit down with Jimmy G in an interview room and read him the Miranda Warning. The detectives begin to ask the standard pedigree questions: "Full Name", "Address", "DOB", "SSN" which Jimmy politely answers. Nothing Jimmy says can get him into trouble until they get to the part about "Marks, Scars and Tattoos."  Jimmy G has a number of tattoos.

Many law enforcement agencies use checklists to identify gang members. This is useful in a correctional setting because classification officers can identify members of "Security Threat Groups"  to determine custody levels or to place gang members in separate housing units in a attempt to ward off potential conflicts. (For more information on gang classification in prisons, see:

A Jailhouse Lawyer’s Manual,  Columbia Human Rights Law Review 8th Edition 2009 http://www3.law.columbia.edu/hrlr/JLM/Chapter_31.pdf )

Among the indicators police use to determine if someone is involved with a gang are:

Display of Colors (clothing including sneakers, hats, beads  and bandanas)

Photographs of a Suspect Posing with Known Gang Members

Associating with Known Gang Members

Flashing Gang Signs (usually in photographs but also observed in surveillances)

Making Gang Related Graffiti

Voluntary Admission of Gang Affiliation

Gang Tattoos or Markings (scars or burns)

Any two of these indicators  recorded by law enforcement can result in someone being identified as a known gang member. The individual will be associated with this label for as long as he or she has contact with the justice system. For the hard core gangster, this may be a plus but no for someone with only peripheral gang involvement.

The Constitution guarantees the right against self-incrimination in a custodial interview and a request to admit to having certain marks, scars or tattoos should not fall into this forbidden area of inquiry. However, in Jimmy G's case, the answer to this identification question can become an admission against his own interest and there is not much that either he or his lawyer can do about it. The consequences of this label can be quite substantial: Increased scrutiny of one's daily activities, exposure to enhanced penalties if charged with a gang related crime and more severe treatment by correctional authoities if convicted and sent to prison.

GANGS 101

If you want to learn about urban street gangs there are many, many ways to get this information. Cable channels like NATGEOTV and Discovery devote a huge chunk of their programming dollars to this subject with documentary-style shows that cover most of the major street gangs and profile some of the more prominent gang members; often including commentary from OG's (Original Gangsters, a/k/a senior or founding gang members).

There is a wealth of information on the Internet. Type a few key words relating to street gangs into the search engine of your choice and within seconds, you'll have access to more information than you can digest in a month. Please note, I'm not endorsing any of the web sites which appear in this post. They are included for illustrative purposes only.
This information runs the gamut from law enforcement websites USDOJ Office of Justice Programs and US Bureau of Justice Assistance which publish treatises such as the Gang Prosecution Manual and Urban Street Gang Enforcement (here are the  links):

http://www.nationalgangcenter.gov/Content/Documents/Gang-Prosecution-Manual.pdf   https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/161845.pdf 

to informational websites aimed at providing general knowledge of gang culture and gang prevention

http://www.gangsorus.com/
http://www.gangpreventionservices.org/
http://www.great-online.org/

When you consider all of the "authoritative" Internet data, as well as everything relating to gangs posted on social networking, video sharing sites and personal web pages; it possible to get a very good idea of what gang history, culture and organization is all about.  To be sure, intimate knowledge of gang life is granted only to a privileged few but in many ways urban street gangs are more transparent than organizations like the Masons or the Elks.

So why is it that the various "gang investigator associations" restrict general membership to law enforcement, probation, corrections and prosecutors? Why is that defense investigators can't join these groups and receive the same training? What is the big secret?

I think the big secret is that by limiting this "gang training" to law enforcement and associated professions, a police "gang expert" who is "certified" is assumed to be more credible than a defense witness testifying in the same subject area but based his or her own area of gang expertise. In the DOJ Gang Prosecution Manual's section on "Gang Expert Qualification",  two of the qualifiers relate to membership in a gang investigator's association.

Interestingly, it appears that many of the other qualifiers listed in this section also apply to the defense, especially for an investigator who has had substantial contact working with gang members. Anyone familiar with the story of graduate student, Sudhir Venkatesh, currenty a sociology professor at Columbia University will realize that working closely with gang members in any capacity can build expertise on gang life.

For those of you not familiar with this story, the short version is that while he was working on a study of race, poverty and crime, Venkatesh was held captive by a gang for two days. He was not harmed and eventually developed a rapport with the leader of the gang, giving him unprecedented access to the gang's inner workings. A longer version of the story can be found in Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner in the chapter entitled Why Do Drug Dealers Live With Their Mothers?

The question of "who is an expert?" may become moot in the not too distant future. I've heard from some gang detectives that in certain jurisdictions, law enforcement investigators are beginning to eschew the notion that someone is a "certified gang expert," because the nature of the urban street gang is constantly in a state of flux. Gang identifiers (like colors or signs) change as gangs evolve, adapt to changes in the community, merge, regroup or dissolve. The expert title is becoming too difficult to maintain.

In the end, it's important to understand the basic Who, What, Why and How of urban street gangs, if for no other reason than it may help us to better communicate with the client accused of a gang related crime.