by Meryl Carver-Allmond, BIDS Training Director

Cole Hawver, Chief Public Defender of the North Central Regional Office in Junction City, recently won the Kansas Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ “Clarence Darrow” Award.

by Meryl Carver-Allmond, BIDS Training Director

Big congratulations to Jackie Hanzok on passing the Kansas bar exam this week!

by Meryl Carver-Allmond, BIDS Training Director

Gideon v. Wainwright, the landmark case that established public defense in the United States as we know it, turned 60 this year, and Kansas Public Defenders took the opportunity to celebrate.

by Kelson Bohnet, Senior Assistant Capital Defender

Recently, the Death Penalty Defense Unit researched the practical realities of commitment for clients who are found not guilty because of mental disease or defect (MDD). We have gathered some limited, though valuable, information about what a successful MDD defense means for clients. Here, we want to share that information so that attorneys can have honest and productive discussions with clients, and so that attorneys can make informed choices on the wisdom of using MDD at trial.

by Meryl Carver-Allmond, KSBIDS Training Director

While they often get confused for each other and for the larger Appellate Defender Office, for about 20 years now, BIDS has had two freestanding appellate offices dedicated to working on direct appeals for clients sentenced to death – the Capital Appeals and Conflicts Office and the Capital Appellate Defender.  

While the Capital Appellate Defender has changed personnel a few times in those two decades, Reid Nelson and Debra Wilson have been a team at the Capital Conflicts Office for that entire time. I was delighted to talk with them a few months ago about the history of their office and how they’ve made such a long-term partnership work.