Expert Services

Deputy Director Jon Mosher and Senior Program Manager Aditi Goel present to the Task Force on 6AC’s evaluation of Illinois, public defender independence, and state accountability.

Deputy Director Jon Mosher presents on statewide structural issues and observations from 6AC’s evaluation in Oakland County (Pontiac), and necessary state legislative and policy reforms.

Executive Director David Carroll testifies during a formal hearing on Public Defender Commission Rules. Carroll speaks on the history of indigent defense reform in Idaho and the reasonableness of proposed rules at the invitation of the Committee Chair.

Executive Director David Carroll testifies during a formal hearing on Public Defender Commission Rules. Carroll speaks on the history of indigent defense reform in Idaho and the reasonableness of proposed rules at the invitation of the Committee Chair.

Deputy Director, Jon Mosher, and Program Manager, Aditi Goel present to the Illinois Supreme Court justices the findings and recommendations from The Right to Counsel in Illinois: Evaluation of Trial-level Public Defense Representation. There are two overarching reasons why the State of Illinois is defaulting on its constitutional right to counsel obligations. First, the state requires counties and courts to provide and predominantly fund indigent defense systems in a way that bakes in governmental interference with the right to counsel. Second, as one of only seven states with no state-level mechanism to oversee any aspect of trial-level right to counsel services, Illinois lacks information about every aspect of the varied indigent defense systems implemented by the county governments and courts in their efforts to fulfill the Sixth Amendment right to counsel responsibilities that the state has delegated to them.

Deputy Director Jon Mosher and Program Manager Aditi Goel present the findings and recommendations from The Right to Counsel in Illinois: Evaluation of Trial-level Public Defense Representation. There are two overarching reasons why the State of Illinois is defaulting on its constitutional right to counsel obligations. First, the state requires counties and courts to provide and predominantly fund indigent defense systems in a way that bakes in governmental interference with the right to counsel. Second, as one of only seven states with no state-level mechanism to oversee any aspect of trial-level right to counsel services, Illinois lacks information about every aspect of the varied indigent defense systems implemented by the county governments and courts in their efforts to fulfill the Sixth Amendment right to counsel responsibilities that the state has delegated to them.

Deputy Director Jon Mosher presents the right to counsel in Oregon, and the need for legislative reforms to state’s indigent defense system to correct deficiencies identified in 6AC’s statewide evaluation.

Program Manager Rachael Liebert speaks to first-year law students on the important role critical indigent defense systems play in the criminal justice system and the role of defense counsel in plea bargaining.

Program Manager Rachael Liebert speaks to first-year law students on the critical role strong indigent defense systems play in the criminal justice system and the role of defense counsel in plea bargaining.

Senior Program Manager Aditi Goel presents at the program’s "The Myths of Public Safety: Pretrial" speaker series – organized by Program Director Katy Naples-Mitchell and Professor Sandra Susan Smith – on 6AC’s research in various jurisdictions on the early appointment of counsel and systemic pressures that indigent people face to waive their right to counsel.

Senior Program Manager Aditi Goel presents on a panel about the early appointment of counsel and observations from 6AC’s evaluation in Santa Cruz, CA. Also as panelists were Professor Paul Heaton at the Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice at UPenn Law, Office of the State Public Defender Indigent Defense Improvement Division Executive Director Galit Lipa, and Associate Judge Juliet J. McKenna of the D.C. Superior Court.

Executive Director David Carroll and Senior Program Manager Aditi Goel present to the subcommittee on the history of the right to counsel in America, 6AC’s evaluation methodology, and a comparison of Ohio’s indigent system to other states, including Michigan, Massachusetts, and Mississippi.