Clinical Associate Professor; Director, Public Defender Project
Law School
Work:
608-262-9859
Topics
Expert on the practice of criminal defense including best practices for defending the accused.
Expert on the ethics of criminal defense including the ethical obligations of defense counsel to provide zealous representation.
Expert on public defense systems designed to provide counsel to those who are too poor to hire counsel.
Achievements
Former Indigent Defense Counsel to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Director of Policy and Practice for the Defender Association of Philadelphia.
Former Director of Criminal Defense Clinics at Syracuse University College of Law and the University of Alabama School of Law.
Kristin Murphy, Deseret News
SALT LAKE CITY A Utah bill to limit “no-knock” warrants that allow police to force entry into people’s homes without warning faltered in a legislative committee on Friday, struggling to find enough traction to clear its first legislative hurdle.
No-knock warrants have received nationwide scrutiny since the high-profile death of Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed after Louisville, Kentucky, police forced entry into her apartment during a botched raid.
Taylor’s death on March 13 along with George Floyd’s killing May 25 became a symbol for the nationwide movement calling for police reform and an end to racial injustice. In the wake of her killing, the Louisville Metro Council banned no-knock search warrants. So did the states of Virginia, Florida, Oregon, and at least 13 local governments or police departments.
Editor’s note • Those who are experiencing intimate partner violence, or know someone who is, are urged to call the Utah Domestic Violence Link Line, 1-800-897-LINK (5465), or the Utah Rape and Sexual Assault Crisis Line, 1-888-421-1100.
When Lara Wilson met her now-ex-boyfriend on a dating app in 2016, she said, “he seemed like he was perfect.”
“Our first months together were wonderful,” the Layton resident said. “At that time, I had no reason to suspect that he had a history of violence.”
That later changed, she told state lawmakers Tuesday. He began shoving her, and she eventually learned about his previous domestic violence conviction. Shortly after that, Wilson said, he fractured both of her eye sockets, just before she became pregnant.