REGIONAL CONFERENCE AGENDA

Transcription

1 REGIONAL CONFERENCE AGENDA NDIA REGIONAL CONFERENCE, NEWPORT BEACH, CA SEPTEMBER 4-5, 2014 Wednesday, September 3, :00 pm 8:00 pm REGISTRATION, Hospitality The Garden, outside, 1 st floor of the BAY BUILDING Thursday, September 4, :30 am 8:30 am Coffee Bar The Garden 8:45 am 9:00 am Welcome & Opening Remarks Marvin Jeffcoat, NDIA President Introduction of Melissa Kupferberg Scholarship Recipients 9:00 am 10:30 am Federal Criminal Case Jury Trials: Gone Forever? Attorney Dean Steward, H. Dean Steward, P.C., San Clemente, CA Course Description: You spend months, maybe years, interviewing witnesses, reviewing documents, organizing evidence and meeting with the client and lawyer. Trial is near, and you have a good defense. You re looking forward to an epic courtroom battle. And then the client pleads guilty why? We ll examine this growing trend, the reasons behind it and your role. We ll look at your approach to dealing with your client and the lawyer. Is the Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial a sad joke in 2014? Maybe not. These and related issues will be explored from the viewpoint of the investigator and the paralegal. 10:45 am 12:00 pm Cell Tower Data Analysis Roberto Aguero, Forensic Analyst, CEO, CTF DataPro. Inc., Murrieta, CA Course Description: Presentation will include how cell towers work and how to read and analyze call detail records provided by the cell carriers.

2 I II Embrace Report Writing Lubna Debbini, Investigator, Orange County Alternate Defender, Santa Ana, CA Course Description: Learn to write clearly, concisely, and effectively. We ll cover such topic as identifying your reader s needs, deciding how much detail to include, structure, semantics, passive and active voices, as well as grammar, punctuation, and spelling. In addition, we ll discuss first drafts, edits/redactions, and confidential work product versus discoverable material. 12:00 pm 1:30 pm Lunch On Your Own 12:30 pm 1:30 pm SNACK N CHAT (Optional) [Location TBA] "Protecting Yourself From Your Work: Understanding, Recognizing and Managing Secondary Trauma, Stress & Burnout" Lawrence Allison, Ph.D., Licensed Clinical Psychologist - Newport Beach, CA Dr. Louise Allison, Director, TM Program of Coastal Orange County - Newport Beach, CA Course Description: Members of the criminal defense community often experience the same rate of work related trauma, stress and burnout as first responders (such as police officers, fire fighters and EMS workers). This presentation is an overview of work related trauma and the negative impact it can have on the quality of work productivity, interpersonal relationships inside and outside of the workplace, and on overall physical health. The goal of this discussion is to teach you how to identify the warning signs of secondary trauma, stress and burnout, and the measures that can be utilized to overcome them and be at our best for our clients and each other. 1:30 pm 2:45 pm Investigator s role in Jury Selection Victor Gomez, Investigator, Investigator, Federal Public Defender, Santa Ana, CA Course Description: Get to know your jury before they get to know your case. Learn how to put jurors through the digital wringer in order to make better selections and tailor your closing argument to the empaneled. I II "Social History Records: Collecting & Presenting SH Records and Overcoming The Challenges Of Uncooperative Clients & Family Members Holly Jackson, Esq., Mitigation Specialist, Law Office of Holly Jackson, Culver City, CA Mia Ji, J.D., Paralegal, Mitigation Assistant, Reprieve Legal Services, Las Vegas, NV Course Description: Mitigation work requires us to think about our clients as whole people. We must focus beyond what our clients are accused of doing and consider everything and everyone who has touched their lives. Records are the heart of telling the whole story about our client s lives. Records give us the information necessary to map out a life history chronology, document significant events, corroborate witness interviews, and develop investigative leads. This session will explore all

3 the reasons why we collect records. We will discuss specific ways to collect records and techniques for working with the documents once we ve retrieved them. The first step towards a successful record collection strategy is obtaining signatures on release forms from clients and family members. Difficult individuals may not understand or trust that these forms and records could save their loved ones lives. This session will discuss various approaches to explaining the need for releases and acquiring signatures from difficult individuals. 3:00 pm 4:15 pm Anatomy of a Wrongful Arson Conviction R. Paul Bieber, Founder & Director, The Arson Research Project, Seaside, CA Course Description: Anatomy of a Wrongful Arson Conviction will expose and explain the common unreliable forensic methodologies and investigative techniques that have contributed to dozens of wrongful arson convictions. By reviewing dozens of arson exonerations, acquittals and wrongful convictions, the Arson Research Project has documented the common errors at the heart of many fire investigations where accidental fires have been misidentified as arson. This presentation will focus on those unreliable, untested and exaggerated expert conclusions and the impact of cognitive bias on forensic examinations. I Garden room III Defending Gang Trials: Defense Gang Experts and Defense Investigators Gregorio Estevane, PI, JD, Trial Expert Witness Criminal Street Gangs, Trial Defense Private Investigator, CJ Professor, ASTIS Consulting, Los Angeles, CA Course Description: Understanding how the government dirties up the D with gang allegations. How the investigators, gang experts and defense lawyers work to get that dirt off by exposing the government s lack of evidence, improper use of police gang experts who opine with no basis of facts, why gang crime is the exception to crime stats, how gang members commit personal crimes, how gang members associate socially and not criminally, why gangs do not dominate drug trades nor violent crime conviction stats, when a gang member is no longer active, the day in the life of the D to prove he/she is not a gang active, utilizing the gang or community (gang) show not gang crime. How investigators and gang experts work hand in hand to provide the attorney and jury what is needed for a just outcome. 4:30 pm 5:45 pm Effectively Engaging with Victims and Survivors Kelly Branham, Esq., National Coordinator for Victim Outreach, Capital Resource Counsel Project, Alexandria, VA Course Description: One of the most difficult task facing defense teams is communicating with victims or surviving family members, so difficult that many defense teams choose not to communicate at all. Yet victims families play an increasingly important role in how these cases are prosecuted. Victims roles continue through the trial and beyond into appellate and habeas proceedings. This session will introduce the core principals of Defense-Victim Outreach and demonstrate how engaging with victims can not only be effective for the defense, but also an essential part of the defense function.

4 5:30 pm 7:30 pm Hospitality, Networking The Garden (outside) Friday, September 5, :30-8:00 am Coffee Bar The Garden 8:00 9:30 am STAR (Substance Abuse & Re-entry) & CASA (Conviction & Sentence Alternatives) Neha Mehta, Attorney, Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA Raul Ayala, Attorney, Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA Liliana Coronado, Attorney, Federal Public Defender, Los Angeles, CA Course Description: CASA is a post-guilty plea diversion program that offers a creative blend of treatment, sanction alternatives, and incentives to effectively address offender behavior, rehabilitation, and the safety of the community. Participation is entirely voluntary and must be approved by the judge assigned to the defendant s criminal case. During their time in the CASA program, participants will engage in a variety of programs to address underlying causes of their criminal conduct, and will attend regularly scheduled CASA program proceedings that will include reports on their progress in the program. STAR provides relapse prevention education and treatment to parolees. Investigators play a vital role in the process because the attorneys depend on them to conduct social history investigations in efforts to convince judges that clients are qualified for enrollment into the programs. 9:45 am-11:00 am "Beyond the Gun and the Bullet: Things to Consider When Investigating Shootings" Paul Paradis, Criminologist, State of Colorado Office of the Public Defender, Pueblo, CO Course Description: Many factors need to be considered when investigating shooting cases that make differences to guilt, degree of guilt, and innocence. Looking beyond the facts of a gun and bullet to other clues that can impact one s presentation in the courtroom. This presentation will cover introduction action versus reaction, human factors to consider and inertia effects. The how and why of how some strange things happen, supported by science.

5 I Garden room III Medical Record Review: Finding the Information You Need Without Googling Every Medical Term Tara M. Godoy, BSN, RN, LNC, Forensic and Legal Nurse Consultant, Godoy Medical Forensics, Inc., Livermore, CA Course Description: The records included in this presentation follow an attempted murder case and highlight not only what it is in the records but also what might be missing. The purpose of the presentation is to assist attorney s and investigator s in focusing their review of medical records and to be able to locate records that contain the information that attorney s and investigators are commonly seeking. 11:15 am 12:30 pm Blood Spatter (11:15 am 12:45 pm) Brad Perron, LPI, CCDI, CFSI Academic Director, CDITC, Investigator, Investigative Support Specialist, Inc., Stuart, FL Course Description: The participant will get an introduction to Blood Spatter Analysis, starting with the physical properties of blood and then onto specific patterns that can be identified at the crime scene. Actual patterns will be created and compared. Also, the participant will actually learn, hands on, presumptive blood detection techniques. I II Abusive Head Trauma: Current Controversies and Opposing Theories Tara M. Godoy, BSN, RN, LNC, Forensic and Legal Nurse Consultant, Godoy Medical Forensics, Inc., Livermore, CA Course Description: [TBA] 12:30 pm 2:00 pm LUNCH ON OWN 2:00 pm 3:15 pm Defending Mexican Nationals Capital Crimes: Investigation and Mitigation in Mexico Gregorio Estevane, PI, JD, Trial Expert Witness Criminal Street Gangs, Trial Defense Private Investigator, CJ Professor, ASTIS Consulting, Los Angeles, CA Course Description: You have a Mexican National client in a capital or death penalty matter. Your trial investigation and mitigation investigation facts and witnesses will come from Mexico. How trial investigators, mitigation investigators obtain those documents and witnesses on one of the most dangerous countries in the world Mexico. Case study of 2014 hung jury, in a death penalty matter, cartel vs. cartel allegations with victims dissolved in acid, with defendants core defense witnesses and documents from Mexico City to Tijuana, Mexico presented at trial, resulting in a humanized client and hung jury.

6 I II Testifying: The Moment of Truth Lubna Debbini, Investigator, Orange County Alternate Defender, Santa Ana, CA Course Description: Learn to avoid the traps and pitfalls of the witness stand. Harness the opportunity to help your team and elevate your professional capital. 3:30 pm 5:00 pm "Ballistics & Toolmark Identification: What you should know and how to go after the Government's Examiner" Paul Paradis, Criminologist, State of Colorado Office of the Public Defender, Pueblo, CO Course Description: What are the other points in firearm reports that you are unaware of? What you need to look for, how to find it and what are potential flaws in the processing that they are not telling you about. What are sub-class characteristics, the General Rifling Characteristic file (GRC data) and points to be aware of in distance determination testing. Many tests are subject to potential variations and concerns that often the defense is not aware of. 5:00 pm CLOSING ANNOUNCEMENTS Pick Up Certificates outside