Reshaping Justice Website – https://reshapingjustice.org/

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Podcast production by FullCast

Reshaping Justice Website – https://reshapingjustice.org/

🎙️🎙️🎙️

Podcast production by FullCast

In this episode, Jamie Dunn joins the show to share his experience with the criminal justice system, his thoughts on the Edgar Ruling and the antiquated and outdated nature of the parole process. Jamie speaks with Dale about his incarceration and subsequent rehabilitation and what he would do if he were released from prison today. 

00:44 – Jamie Dunn joins the show to discuss his experience within the criminal justice system and his thoughts on the Edgar Ruling

04:25 – Jamie discusses the antiquated parole process and mandatory minimum sentences

06:13 – Jamie speaks to his record while he’s been in prison and what would happen if he were let out of prison today

09:42 – Jamie shares his thoughts on why prisons fail to rehabilitate prisoners properly

11:34 – Jamie discusses his next parole hearing date and why he thinks the system is corrupt

“The Edgar Ruling states that in order to calculate consecutive sentences, the parole board shall add the minimum terms of each sentence together to come up with your minimum eligibility date.” (01:29)

“Essentially they [the parole board] have the discretion to see me now. But they stopped using that ever since Edgar, which it seems like they’re punishing everyone because they didn’t like his outcome.” (04:03)

“The system is very unjust.” (07:51)

“That’ll be forty years I’ll have been incarcerated when they finally want to see me. I was nineteen when I committed my crime.” (12:07)

“Ya know, guys need another chance. Some people need to be in here [prison] and some people need a chance.” (12:33)

Reshaping Justice Website – https://reshapingjustice.org/

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Podcast production by FullCast

In this episode, Director of the Midwest Innocence Project in Kansas City, Sean O’Brien, joins the show to share his experience in the Public Defender’s Office and how he has become a major advocate for justice. Sean shares the incredible story of Brian Banks and explains why many of these cases, sadly, continue to happen today.

00:45 – Sean O’Brien joins the show and speaks to his background in law, his decision to become a public defender and how he got involved in the Capital Punishment Resource Center

09:55 – Sean gives his thoughts on the Edgar ruling in the Missouri courts and recalls the incredible story of the Brian Banks case

23:19 – Sean lists actionable steps we need to take as a society to reshape justice

28:21 – Sean talks about the concept of ‘junk science’

33:46 – Dale thanks Sean for joining the show and for continuing to do great work

“I just happened to run into a friend of mine after I had decided to leave the business practice and he said ‘We’ve got an opening in the Public Defender’s Office. You should come check it out.’ And I went over there and interviewed and it was just like coming home. I found myself surrounded by like-minded people who cared about justice, cared about their clients, and felt like they were doing important work.” (02:10)

“Watching how the justice system treats people generally, it can really be dehumanizing. And so, giving them a voice and helping them express their humanity is the most compelling part of the work.” (09:36)

“I tend not to take on cases of people who are free because there’s somebody in prison who needs my legal help.” (16:51)

“One of my clients, Ellen Reasonover – she spent sixteen years in prison for a crime she did not do – she said, ‘I felt like I was kidnapped and held against my will for sixteen years.’” (22:22)

“In death penalty cases, over a third of the exonerations by DNA were based on convictions obtained by confessions – false confessions.” (26:49)

Reshaping Justice Website – https://reshapingjustice.org/

Midwest Innocence Project Website – https://themip.org/

Capital Punishment Resource Center Website – https://socialjusticeresourcecenter.org/cause/capital-punishment/

Sean’s University of Missouri-Kansas City Bio – https://law.umkc.edu/profiles/faculty-directory/sean-obrien.html

John Grisham’s The Innocent Man – https://www.jgrisham.com/the-innocent-man/

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Podcast production by FullCast