The Office of the Post-Conviction Defender provides non-case-specific advice to public defenders and appointed private counsel representing capital defendants in Tennessee. Such assistance is non-case-specific to avoid possible conflicts of interest. The office maintains a searchable database of its previously filed pleadings and other reference materials. Should you require assistance, please send an email with an inquiry through the contact form.
Additional Defender Resources
Defender/Advocacy Organizations & Information
Capital Defense Network (includes motions/briefs/caselaw summaries/training materials/training calendar)
Death Penalty Information Center
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
Tennessee Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Association for Public Defense
American Bar Association: Death Penalty Representation Project
Cornell Law School: Death Penalty Project
Southern Center for Human Rights
Equal Justice Initiative
ACLU Capital Punishment Project
Innocence Project
Tennessee Innocence Project
Millard Farmer
Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy
Advancing Real Change (resource clearinghouse available with password)
FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES
US Department of Justice
Bureau of Justice Statistics
National Institutes of Mental Health
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Drug Enforcement Administration
National Archives
Federal Judicial Center – Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence, 3rd Ed.
CAPITAL TRAINING OPPORTUNITIES
Capital Defense Network listings
The Bryan R. Shechmeister Death Penalty College – Santa Clara University
NACDL seminars (includes capital training)
Advancing Real Change (training calendar available with password)
TACDL seminars (includes an annual capital seminar)
Darrow Baldus Criminal Defense College
National Capital Defense Listservs
Hofstra Law School administers the following six listservs, which share updates and resources for the benefit of the capital defense community.
Habeas (for people doing post-conviction work in capital cases)
Captrials (for people defending state capital cases)
Fedtrials (for people defending federal capital cases)
Mitigation (for people whose focus is on mitigation investigation advocacy and theories in capital cases)
Moratorium (for people whose focus is on public advocacy regarding capital punishment)
Hall/Hurst Successor (for people whose focus is on Florida and Alabama state and federal post-conviction cases arising out of Hall v. Florida, 134 S.Ct. 1986 (2014) and the follow-on activities to Hurst v. Florida, 136 S.Ct. 616 (2016))
The list administrator is Professor Eric M. Freedman.To join a list send him a brief note stating your interest in one or more of the foregoing. Once he grants permission for you to sign up you will be able to freely switch your list subscriptions as your interests dictate.
INVESTIGATIVE Links
Tennessee Felony Offender Information (information on TN state prison inmates, past and present)
Shelby County Sheriff – Who’s in Jail?
Davidson County Active Inmate Search
Vinelink
Bureau of Prisons inmate locator
Tennessee Licensure Verification (professional and health care)
Crimelynx (investigation links for the criminal defense practitioner)
Social Security Death Index
US Department of Justice: Office of Information Policy (Freedom of Information Act)
Crime Scene Investigator Network
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION & LINKS
Batson Reform Resources, Berkley Law SCOTUS Blog
Snitching Blog
Psycport, Psychology in the News, APA
The Top 100 Criminal Justice Blogs
Internet Archive: Wayback Machine
Disclaimers: This web site is not intended to and does not establish an attorney-client relationship or other legal relationship with the reader. This web site is not intended to and does not offer or dispense legal advice. Readers should consult a lawyer before making any significant legal decisions