Sunday, January 18, 2015

Blackburn on flawed forensics, indigent defense

My friend and former employer Jeff Blackburn of the Innocence Project of Texas stopped by today for a 20-minute chat on the future of innocence work, flawed forensics, recording police interrogations, and indigent defense, recorded and uploaded here (wav) for anyone interested. I'm afraid Grits skimped a bit on production values this go round - no bells and whistles, just an interview - but regular readers should find the content interesting.

9 comments:

Harry Homeless said...

Interesante

Thomas R. Griffith said...

..."former"... ?

Grits, (I missed the announcement and the going away party).

FWIW. You are way too young to retire, too valuable to be fired and basically the only one that provides the public at large with any & all information related to the project. I wish you'd consider discussing a Board Member position with Mr. Blackburn & Associates. While you think about it, I'm headed over to check out the linked chat.

Thanks.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

No retirement and not "fired," per se, IPOT just ran out of money. No bad blood or personal problems, just the way of the world sometimes. I'm still doing work for the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition.

Thomas R. Griffith said...

"Interesante", indeed.

Fire-side chats like this one would be a great GFB monthly issue to consider.

With no mention of (The Texas TapOut aka: Plea Bargains this time, I'm putting the idea out there for the next GFB Guest-of-Honor(s) to consider touching on.

*A simple monthly / yearly contest or essay awarding the winner with an opportunity to have Breakfast-with-Grits would bring in some operating funds (donations) via: small entry fees. Podcast offered up via categorized links as a way to provide readers with a chance to hear what issues & solutions regular Joes' / Joanns' prefer to talk about (in person or over the phone) vs type out.

Thanks again and I'm certain that the TCJC will keep you busy.

Alex Bunin said...

Great job. You made "Audio of the Day: What the future of so-called innocence work looks like, in Texas and elsewhere," on The Marshall Project.

Richard Dulany, Jr. said...

"Indigent defense has to become a political issue that people care about." Yep.

Anonymous said...

Is this still available? Any way you could post an MP3 version? That would probably make streaming a little less difficult.

Gritsforbreakfast said...

The link to the wave file still works.

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much for sharing this interview, Scott! I second Thomas R. Griffith's suggestion that a monthly "fire-side chat" like this would be an excellent addition to GFB.