DPA 2025 Annual Conference

Participants in this session will learn about Kentucky's expungement requirements for both misdemeanors and felonies, and how to properly advise clients on expungement procedures and availability. The session will include training for both attorneys and non-attorney staff to participate in local expungement clinics or host clinics themselves.

This session will examine juvenile Serious Youthful Offender transfer and system coordination through a case study lens. A case study of a juvenile violent offender, transferred to Circuit Court and system coordination highlights the need for a collaborative approach involving various agencies like juvenile justice, law enforcement, and social services which can lead to more effective interventions, reduced recidivism, and improved outcomes for both the client and the community. Some key aspects of system coordination that will be examined include Early Intervention, Assessment and Risk Management, Collaboration and Communication between agencies and systems of care, Development of Individualized Treatment Plans and the role of the ASW, Community Support, Mental Health and Competency, and other miscellaneous issues such as involuntary medication and early transfer to adult correctional facilities that may arise as you are advocating for your youthful clients.

Additionally, the panel will discuss the role of the ASW and other DPA team members such as Protection and Advocacy in developing tailored plans that address the specific needs of the youthful client, including substance abuse treatment, mental health services, educational support, and vocational training. Case strategies such as request for competency evaluation, need for robust motion practices, and involving families, schools, and other community stakeholders in the judicial and rehabilitation process will be explored.

This session is geared towards both trial and post-trial lawyers who handle capital cases (or have an interest in doing so in the future), capital investigators, and even non-capital litigation team members who want to learn more about intellectual disability to see how they may be able to investigate and present intellectual disability to try to obtain a more favorable outcome for their clients.

Defense teams typically include thinking about trauma experiences and their effects on client behaviors in committing crimes and in potentially mitigating sentences. However, there are also neurophysiological factors that can greatly shape client behaviors in ways that may be hidden from clients’ awareness. This workshop will explore the potential effects of negative events in early life and they ways in which these effects can be manifest in client behaviors. The session includes a review of key factors in early childhood neurodevelopment and the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral effects of early problems in development and how these can be relevant to mitigation and defense team relationships with clients. In part II (offered in the next hour), we will discuss recommendations for interviewing clients and family/other witnesses and data collection will be discussed. Thus, the overall goal of this workshop is to simply increase defense awareness of and confidence in exploring this clearly difficult area.

This session will provide an overview of involuntary commitment proceedings under KRS Chapter 202C and what we have learned since the law was enacted in 2021 and amended in 2024. We will explore constitutional and evidentiary objections, potential ethical concerns, and pending appeals, as well as give practice tips for handling these cases.

We will examine how to gather and utilize mental health evidence in a practical manner in your case. This will include the ethical handling of the material and involvement of the client in the decision making process. Different specific defenses and scenarios will be examined with an emphasis on the courtroom application of mental health evidence.

This session is designed to introduce public defender staff and private practitioners (attorneys, mitigation specialists, investigators, and paralegals) to the fundamentals of capital mitigation. This session is a primer targeted for newer practitioners to capital defense work. Topics covered will include, but are not limited to working with a mitigation specialist, what a typical investigation should include, and preparing for a penalty phase.

In this session we will discuss recommendations for interviewing clients and family/other witnesses and data collection around childhood development will be discussed. This is the second part of a 2-part session. The first session focused on how to look at trauma experiences and their effects on client behaviors in committing crimes and in potentially mitigating sentences. The overall goal of this workshop is to simply increase defense awareness of and confidence in exploring this clearly difficult area.

You’ve heard about the School-to-Prison pipeline: disproportionately Black and Brown youth are funneled out of schools and into the juvenile legal system because racism and biases about behavior lead to suspensions, increasing the risk of juvenile system contact. But there is another, less visible School-to-Prison pipeline: untreated ADHD symptoms are interpreted as behavioral problems that lead to suspensions, also increasing the risk of juvenile system contact. The compound effects of these pipelines mean that Black children with ADHD are more likely to be caught in the School-to-Prison pipeline. This presentation covers a primer on ADHD, racial disparities in ADHD diagnosis and treatment, and tips for practitioners in working more effectively with child and adult clients with ADHD, many of whom have experienced the harms of the School-to-Prison pipeline.

In this session, we will dive into the world of working on a youthful offender case and how to effectively work as a team to build the best case for your child client facing serious consequences if they are transferred to adult court.

Many of our cases involve mental health, both diagnosed and undiagnosed. During this session we will discuss how to tell the story of mental health so that the fact-finder can truly see our clients as individuals in need of support. In this session we will discuss the various ways to gather information on mental health and how to present mental health arguments in a persuasive manner.

Every member of a defense team plays a vital role in providing effective representation to our clients, but we have to work together for the best outcomes. In this session, we will review characteristics of cases that create levels of complexity. We will review both universal best practices and DPA specific policies designed to strengthen interpersonal working relationships on individual teams, within our offices, and across the agency.

This session is designed to give defense teams ideas in which to utilize a mitigation specialist in non -capital cases, including but not limited to focused areas of investigation and how to work with your judge to obtain Chapter 31 funding.

Session will include the importance of identifying Veterans who are coming into the legal system. Will discuss the unique issues that impact Veterans and how these issues can contribute to interactions within the legal system. Finally, will discuss treatment options available to assist justice involved Veterans.

During this session, participants will learn strategies and techniques to incorporate the client’s story into a compelling mitigation argument throughout the second phase of a non-capital trial or sentencing hearing. Rules 1.1 and 1.3 require that we are competent and diligent and thus we must zealously represent our clients even after a guilty verdict. By using interview and investigatory techniques we can uncover stories of our client’s past and present that can be crafted into a compelling mitigation story to help a judge and/or a jury to believe our clients deserves a brighter future.

Discuss collecting information for each of the six ASAM dimensions using the assessment tool and using the information from that assessment to assign a severity rating score for each dimension. Review using all dimension rankings as a whole to make a recommendation for appropriate level of care and setting for each client.

This session reviews the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) Criteria and what they reveal about a client's condition regarding substance use and co-occurring disorders. How this information is used in preparing a criminal defense case is then discussed.