Appellate Courts

In-depth overview of of speedy trial issues, incorporating practice content/materials.

Due to the impact of COVID-19, Capital Litigation Committee meet virtually through online conference software at bimonthly intervals. These meetings are ongoing and are intended to touch base with members, get updates about their respective jurisdictions, allow committee members to flag trends and troubleshoot issues, and determine future programming. These meetings also serve some of the function that in-person meetings would have covered, such as planning future TTA and conference/training events.

Mentor Courts serve as models for individuals and court teams interested in starting an Adult Drug court or
for established courts interested in learning innovative practices.

NACDL provided 2 expert faculty to educate defense lawyers, post-conviction lawyers and the innocence effort litigators on DNA. This instruction is essential for lawyers who evaluate and litigate potential innocence claims.

NACDL will conduct an in-person, one-day training for at least 150 defense attorneys on litigating post-conviction claims of innocence. The goal of this training is to increase the ability of attorneys representing individuals in post-conviction proceedings to efficiently and effectively evaluate and litigate cases involving claims of innocence.

This was an annual in-person meeting of the Capital Litigation Committee members at APA's Washington, DC headquarters. There were 11 attendees, including 8 prosecutor committee members and 3 APA staff. This is also a closed event only open to APA CCLI committee members. This day and a half meeting brought together committee members and APA staff to discuss training topics and issues in the field and what types of programming should be developed to address them.

This will be a regional capital litigation conference which will take place sometime in the early spring of 2021 due to COVID. This conference will include speakers, trainings, and other capital litigation-focused learning opportunities for prosecution teams around the country. This regional will be a co-sponsored event, in partnership with the Oklahoma District Attorneys Council, which is also hosting a death penalty training in 2021.

This webinar will attempt to either get the perspective of an active law enforcement agent, a forensic pathologist or analyst, or perhaps a panel of the above, to provide prosecutorial teams with the insights needed to improve the effectiveness of capital case litigation. In particular, this webinar will highlight the ways that prosecutors can improve their rapport with other agencies and how to streamline the criminal case process, from investigation to trial.

Join us 2/18 at 2:30 pm ET for "Prosecuting the Golden State Killer," a 90-minute webinar with Sacramento County DA Anne Marie Schubert and Greg Totten, Chief Executive of the California District Attorneys Association and formerly the Ventura County District Attorney.

In “Capital Litigation: Jury Selection,” Sheila Ross of the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia shared her years of insight and experience with the capital case jury selection process, providing attendees with a practical toolkit to immediately apply to their next trial. This presentation was suitable for all levels of experience.