468 | How the New Jersey Public Defenders are Integrating AI into their Work w/Jennifer Sellitti

Today, I spoke w/Jennifer Sellitti, the Public Defender for the state of New Jersey, to discuss how her office has successfully expanded holistic defender services around the state and how they are successfully integrating AI into their practice.

open.spotify.com/episode/36hW...

How 2 fringe groups and a friendly judge helped pull off Sheriff Chad Bianco’s ballot seizure Emails obtained by CalMatters trace the development of a years-long case that ultimately led to the unprecedented seizure of 650,000 ballots.

Anat Rubin and I co-wrote a story for @calmatters.org about the people behind Sheriff Chad Bianco's "election investigation" -- sovereign citizens, Christian nationalists, and "constitutional sheriffs."
calmatters.org/investigatio...

MDefenders | University of Michigan Law School MDefenders is a faculty-sponsored student organization as well as a network of courses, programming, and resources that support public defense education at Michigan Law and beyond. Founded in 2014, MD...

Impact snapshot: 89% of grads from the first PDTI class continue practicing indigent defense. That’s a pipeline. michigan.law.umich.edu/mdefenders

LAPD Deployed Drones to Spy on No Kings Protest Flight records show that Los Angeles police dispatched drones 32 times over last month’s No Kings rally.

Flight records show that Los Angeles police dispatched drones 32 times over last month’s No Kings rally.

Your State-by-State Guide to the 2026 Supreme Court Elections - Bolts Abortion, redistricting, and ballot access remain heated issues as voters face dozens of supreme court races across 32 states this year.

I decided to write about at each & every one of the 32 states with supreme court elections this year.

Why? On abortion, redistricting, death penalty, & more, these institutions & their elections remain so critical.

So here's everything you need to know. NEW from me:

Hell yeah it would

467 | How Coroners Keep How People Die While in Police Custody Hidden from the Public w/Terence Keel

Today, I spoke w/ Prof @terencekeel.bsky.social about his book Coroner's Silence. We discussed how coroners keep the truth of how people die in police custody hidden from the public and what can be done to change that system of silence.

open.spotify.com/episode/5jdc...

The Fines and Fees Justice Center's Campaigns to Break the Invisible Shackles of Court Fees and Fines w/Dylan Hayre and Emily King — Public Defenseless Podcast The Fines and Fees Justice Center's Campaigns to Break the Invisible Shackles of Court Fees and Fines w/Dylan Hayre and Emily King

If you're a policymaker relying on revenue from #criminaljustice fees, then you're a policymaker who's hoping that your constituents are victims of #crime. That's just one way fees are wildly inhumane, ineffective, and counterproductive to #publicsafety. Learn more: @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social👇🏽.

When courts impose fees to generate revenue, they perpetuate an infrastructure built on crime and fundamentally inhibit true public safety.

Last week on @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social, FFJC’s National Advocacy and Campaigns Director Dylan Hayre discussed the inhumanity of court fee practices.

Bogus “Antifa” Designations and FBI Warrantless Access to Americans’ Communications How Trump administration's efforts to designate "antifa" as a foreign intelligence threat can abuse national security surveillance powers.

Bogus “Antifa” Designations & FBI Warrantless Access to Americans’ Communications: Any expert of national security surveillance law following the government’s escalating actions on 'antifa' can connect the dots to FISA electronic surveillance and other counterterrorism and intelligence authorities.

The Return of Family Detention Under the Trump Administration, thousands of immigrant children have been detained, and many have suffered from medical neglect.

A toddler nearly died at an ICE detention facility in Dilley, Texas. After more than a week in intensive care, she was sent back. Sarah Stillman reports. www.newyorker.com/magazine/202...

Today, I spoke w/Maureen Halon and Anita Tabb, whose child, M, is a member of a class action lawsuit against Missouri's Department of Mental Health. On average, people found in competent to stand trial are waiting 14 months in custody before getting treatment.

open.spotify.com/episode/0u3n...

Philadelphia police expand drone use, but with little oversight from above The Philadelphia Police Department has been operating a drone program for two years without the kind of transparency and oversight common in other major cities.

Great deep dive into drones in Philadelphia. www.inquirer.com/news/philade...

Today, I spoke w/Dylan Hayre and Emily King of @finesandfeesjc.bsky.social. We discussed the incredible work they are doing in states like AZ, ND, and OK to eliminate the court fines and fees that keep people trapped in debt for a lifetime.

open.spotify.com/episode/5rHb...

This week, FFJC’s National Advocacy and Campaigns Director Dylan Hayre and Senior Advocacy and Campaigns Strategist Emily King joined @pdefenselesspod.bsky.social, where they shared their experiences advocating for fine and fee reform across the country.

Louisiana GOP races to eliminate an elected office won by an exonerated man A New Orleans man exonerated after serving nearly 30 years in prison has a new fight on his hands. Calvin Duncan has been elected as the city's new clerk of criminal court, but now Republican lawmakers are racing to eliminate the position.

I tend to agree w people who say innocence cases are the low-hanging fruit of carceral reform, but it's remarkable -
& deeply symptomatic - how far Louisiana officials will go to deny that these clear miscarriages of justice occur & even retaliate against their victims
apnews.com/article/new-...

Filing a motion to exclude evidence of prior convictions? Use this pleading as a model to guide your analysis and prevent prejudicial evidence from being admitted against your client! datafordefenders.org/wp-content/u...

You can't hide your lying ICE: The harassment of Francisco Longoria Federal immigration officers racially profiled a man, fired at his truck, raided his home at 4 am, and arrested him. Then they lied about it all -- both in public and in court.

New from me: The latest in my "You can't hide your lying ICE" series.

radleybalko.substack.com/p/you-cant-h...

Today, I spoke w/Lilah Thompson and Maria Thomson of the Defenders Association of Philadelphia about how their office is resisting Trump's mass deportation agenda.

open.spotify.com/episode/6b64...

Illinois bill would bar police use of facial recognition, biometric surveillance | Biometric Update Illinois lawmakers are weighing a proposal that would sharply curtail the use of biometric surveillance by police and other law enforcement agencies.

www.biometricupdate.com/202604/illin...

Newly released surveillance footage of Jan. 14 ICE shooting contradicts agent's account • Minnesota Reformer The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who shot Venezuelan immigrant Julio Sosa-Celis in north Minneapolis in January told the FBI that by the time he opened fire, he had been “fighting an...

Footage from the Jan. 14 ICE shooting in Minneapolis show a scuffle between an ICE agent and two Venezuelan men lasting less than 12 seconds, contradicting the agent's account. Prosecutors watched the footage 3 weeks after charging the men for assaulting the agent and then dropped all charges.

3-year-old suffered sexual abuse during months in immigration custody, family alleges An immigrant family is grappling with the ordeal suffered by a 3-year-old girl who endured alleged sexual abuse while her father fought for five months for her release from federal custody.

"To have your child abused while in the government's care, to not understand what has happened or how to protect them, to not even be told about the abuse, it is unimaginable," said an attorney representing the girl. https://to.pbs.org/3PV4hr9

Newly Obtained Video of Minneapolis Shooting Undermines ICE Account

Remember when DHS agents had no choice but to shoot two Venezuelan men because the men had attacked them with a snow shovel and a broomstick?

New video shows they were lying about that one, too.

www.nytimes.com/2026/04/06/u...

Florida's Wildlife Cops Are Searching Thousands of Flock Cameras for ICE Ron DeSantis has empowered hundreds of conservation police to work directly with ICE.

New: Florida's wildlife police are giving ICE access to Flock from thousands of cameras around the country & performed dozens of lookups for immigration enforcement per month. Shows ICE is still accessing and also shows that access often comes from unexpected places:

www.404media.co/floridas-wil...

Yeah, honestly, Amanda's book is hard to get through because of how much genuine tragedy this woman has endured. Incredibly powerful voice for restorative justice given what she's been through

Today, I spoke with Amanda Carrasco. Amanda is an author, a survivor, and an incredible champion for restorative justice practices. She joined the show to explain the power restorative justice has to reshape the meaning of public safety and accountability.

open.spotify.com/episode/5MtV...

“Your Data Will Be Used Against You” on @nbcnews.com with Gadi Schwartz tonight.

Iowa lawyers: ‘3 strikes’ crime bill would create problems Prosecutors and defense attorneys seem to agree the “Three Strikes Bill,” imposing 20 year mandatory minimum sentences for felonies and aggravated misdemeanors, is not needed and will create more prob...

Yet another pro-prison bill that even prosecutors and jailer cannot support because of the strain and costs to courts and jails. The new "3 strikes" proposal in Iowa is a 20-year man min based on "points."
www.thegazette.com/news/crime-a...

THREAD. An important report was just released, putting another nail in the coffin of Obama-era "police reform" copaganda. After a study of 13 years of "police reform" in Puerto Rico, police violence *got worse.* The "reform" itself has a budget of $20 million per year.

S.F. sheriffs’ union spent $30K to push debunked story of hospital worker’s stabbing The sheriffs’ union spent thousands to cast the deputy at Ward 86 as a hero, even after clinic staff said they'd stopped the attack.

The San Francisco Deputy Sheriffs’ Association spent $30K to promote the lie that a “deputy sheriff saved Ward 86 from a rapid mass casualty stabbing.”

That was a total fabrication. It was public health workers who stopped the assailant while the sheriff watched.

missionlocal.org/2026/03/sher...