Gideon's Promise and Peril: Meeting the Mandate for Indigent Defense - Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the Court ruled state courts were obligated to provide counsel in criminal cases for defendants who could not otherwise afford it. The logic of this unanimous decision has had far-reaching implications for the way we think about justice in the United States and held such promise to those of us dedicated to the fairness of our judicial system. On October 11th, we will gather to consider how perilous the path remains to meeting this promise.

This event is made possible in part through a generous contribution from Janet Dewart Bell in memory of Professor Derrick Bell.

Agenda

9:00 – Welcome

David J. Harris, Managing Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice
Robert J. Smith, Assistant Professor of Law, UNC School of Law

9:10 – Defending Gideon

Selected clips from the film by the Constitution Project with brief remarks from filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen, Lecturer on Law, Harvard Law School

9:30 – Post-Katrina New Orleans

Stephen Singer, Assistant Clinical Professor, Loyola University College of Law, New Orleans

10:00 – Panel 1: Structural Reforms

Carol Steiker (moderator), Henry J. Friendly Professor of Law, Harvard Law School
Anthony Benedetti, Chief Counsel, Committee for Public Counsel Services
Robert Boruchowitz, Professor from Practice, Seattle University Law School
Alexandra Natapoff, Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, Los Angeles

11:00 – Video of HLS faculty Charles Ogletree and Nancy Gertner

11:30 – Firsthand Perspective of Ineffective Counsel

Gary Drinkard, Board member of Witness to Innocence and exonerated Alabama death row prisoner

12:00 – Lunch (provided)

Martha Minow, Morgan and Helen Chu Dean and Professor of Law, honoring Judge George N. Leighton (HLS ’46),U.S. District Court of Northern District of Illinois, retired

1:00 – Keynote address: “Defiance and Resistance to Gideon”

Stephen Bright, President and Senior Counsel, Southern Center for Human Rights

1:45 – A Capital Defender’s Perspective

Marc Bookman, Director, The Atlantic Center for Capital Representation

2:15 – Panel 2: MyGideon and Training

Robert J. Smith (moderator), Assistant Professor of Law, UNC School of Law
Cathleen Bennett, Criminal Defense Training Director, Committee for Public Counsel Services
Jeff Sherr, Education and Strategic Planning Manager, Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
Stephen Singer, Assistant Clinical Professor, Loyola University College of Law

3:15 – Role of Prosecutors’ Offices