This week Elizabeth Kelley talks with her guest, Professor Lucy Guarnera. The two discuss when a criminal defense lawyer should consider criminal responsibility as a defense, resources for finding mental health experts, and critical components of a thorough forensic evaluation.

In this episode, we discuss:

• When a criminal defense lawyer should consider criminal responsibility as a defense
  
  

• What “mental illness” refers to in the courtroom, and what falls under its umbrella
  
  

• What happens when mental illness and substance abuse occurs together, and what obstacles it poses for the forensic mental health expert
  
  

• The resources that Prof. Guarnera suggests for finding mental health experts
  
  

• Four critical components of a thorough evaluation, and how a criminal defense lawyer can assist the forensic expert in conducting that evaluation
  
  

• Why it’s so important for criminal defense attorneys to know and understand statutes and case laws of their state
  
  

• What kind of tests are typically performed in evaluations, and where their focus lies
  
  

Dr. Guarnera is a licensed clinical psychologist and Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Neurobehavioral Sciences at the Institute of Law, Psychiatry, and Public Policy (ILPPP) at the University of Virginia. She received her doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Virginia. As a clinician, she completed a predoctoral internship focused on traumatic stress based at the Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center at the Medical University of South Carolina, as well as postdoctoral fellowships in forensic psychology and mental health law at the University of Virginia. She has conducted hundreds of forensic evaluations and testifies regularly as an expert witness.

As a researcher, Dr. Guarnera seeks to improve the fairness and accuracy of the legal system, both by studying biased decision-making among forensic experts and by investigating the legal experiences of vulnerable individuals, such as adolescents and trauma victims. Dr. Guarnera’s original research on the legal experiences of women who become pregnant from rape was honored with the Best Dissertation Award and multiple grants from the American Psychology-Law Society. She is an adjunct instructor in the University of Virginia Psychology Department and also co-coordinates the ILPPP’s training program for forensic professionals, with a focus on children, adolescents, and the law. She lives in Scottsville, Virginia, with her family.

Social media handles:
Website: https://www.ilppp.org/
Email: guarnera@virginia.edu

This week Elizabeth Kelley talks with her guest, Dr. Eric Drogin, the author of the first chapter in the second edition of her book, ‘Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers.’

The two discuss clarification on the subject of competency and its importance, what to look for in the right mental health expert for your case, and at what point this work becomes the entree to a number of different medically and/or psychologically informed issues.

In this episode, we discuss:

• What competency is, and why it’s so important

• Competency to stand trial vs. competency to plead guilty

• What red flags criminal defense lawyers should be alert to

• How to find the right diagnosing expert for your client

• Differences in forensic mental health experts and treating doctors

• What types of tests are administered to determine competency

• Who decides if the client is competent after the evaluation

• When habilitation becomes the point of focus, and how to keep this from becoming a revolving door situation

• At what point this work becomes the entree to a number of different medically and/or psychologically informed issues

• What the mental health expert who is evaluating for competency to proceed determine

• What practice point Dr. Drogin has for newer attorneys having their first case in this area

Eric Y. Drogin, J.D., Ph.D., ABPP is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, a Fellow of the American Academy of Forensic Psychology, and a Diplomate and former President of the American Board of Forensic Psychology. He currently holds faculty appointments with Harvard Medical School, the Harvard Mass General Brigham Forensic Psychiatry Fellowship, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH) Harvard Medical School Psychiatry Residency Training Program, and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) Harvard Psychiatry Residency Training Program. He is the Affiliated Lead of Psycholegal Studies for the Psychiatry, Law, and Society Program (at BWH), and participates in the Forensic Psychiatry Service (at BIDMC) and the Program in Psychiatry and the Law (at Massachusetts Mental Health Center).

Dr. Drogin is a Life Fellow of the American Bar Foundation and a former Chair of the American Bar Association’s Section of Science and Technology Law. His multidisciplinary practice encompasses mental health law, expert witness testimony, and trial consultation.

This week Elizabeth Kelley talks with her guest, Professor Larry Dubin. The two discuss the work of helping people on the spectrum navigate “their new world” in the criminal justice system, the boilerplate knowledge that judges and prosecutors need to have in order to competently and humanely handle these cases, and the prevalence of people on the spectrum in our society. He tells us, “The numbers are showing there’s a lot of people on the spectrum, and they don’t need to be mistreated. It’s not fair, it’s not American to have them mistreated as they are currently through the criminal justice system.”

In this episode, we discuss:

• What challenges are faced by people with autism spectrum disorder in the criminal justice system

• How Professor Dubin helps people on the spectrum navigate “their new world” in the system

• Why people on the spectrum are more likely to commit certain kinds of crimes

• What preventative strategies parents can take to keep their autistic child out of the criminal justice system, and how they can be better prepared in this event

• What improvements can be made by the criminal justice system to be more fair, equitable, and accessible for people on the spectrum

• The boilerplate knowledge that judges and prosecutors need to have in order to competently and humanely handle these cases

• Professor Dubin’s sage advice and wisdom-filled insight for us all

Larry Dubin is a graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, practiced law for almost a decade and after four decades as a law professor and has emeritus status at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. He taught, researched and published in the areas of legal ethics and litigation subjects, e.g., civil procedure, evidence & trial practice.

He has also co-edited and written a book: Caught In The Web of the Criminal Justice System: Autism, Developmental Disabilities and Sex Offenses, published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers, London and Philadelphia as well as having written numerous articles for journals on the subject of autism and the legal system.

Professor Dubin has also been quoted as a legal expert in newspapers and magazines around the United States and has been a legal analyst for many different television stations.

Elizabeth Kelley is a criminal defense lawyer with a nationwide practice focused on representing people with mental disabilities. She is editor of Representing People with Mental Disabilities: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers (2018)(2nd ed. 2024 scheduled), Representing People with Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers (2020), and Representing People with Dementia: A Practical Guide for Criminal Defense Lawyers (2022), all published by the American Bar Association (ABA). She also serves as a Vice Chair of the ABA Criminal Justice Council and on the Editorial Board of Criminal Justice Magazine. She was appointed editor of the ABA's annual publication, The State of Criminal Justice. She served as co-chair of The Arc's National Council for Criminal Justice and Disability and the ABA's Commission on Disability. She served as a Non-Governmental Observer on behalf of the ABA at the Military Commission Hearings at Guantanamo.

Ms. Kelley served three terms on the board of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), chaired its Mental Health as well as Membership Committees, and is a Life Member. She served on the Problem-Solving Courts and Body Camera Task Forces. She traveled to Liberia in 2009 and 2014 as part of a delegation sponsored by the U.N. Commission on Drugs and Crime and NACDL to train that country's criminal defense bar.

Ms. Kelley speaks and writes widely on the subjects of the intersection of mental disabilities and the criminal justice system as well as on Attorney Wellness. She completed her 500 hour Yoga certification through Semperviva Studio in Vancouver, B.C.. http://www.elizabethkelleylaw.com