Regardless of the crime, when it comes to defendants everyone gets an attorney. Not every citizen has the where-with-all to hire a lawyer. This is where public defenders and court-appointed advocates come in mighty handy.
An Alexandria four-member team, specialists in defending accused indigent citizens, has proven records of success and they are in demand to teach their practices around the world.
At the invitation of The Eugene Dupuch Law School in Nassau, the Bahamas, attorneys Paul Pepper, Christopher Leibig, Joni Robin and Jasmin Mize lectured on criminal defense in America and taught law school classes.
Interest in these legal counselors follows previous visits but centers on facts that during the current year there have been 92 murders in the Bahamas and many of the defendants needed expert defense teams.
The Virginia attorneys spoke of the American jury trials, the jury selection process and discussions of sensitive criminal defense issues.
“Unfortunately, they [the Bahamians] do not have an automatic right to counsel for anything but the most serious crimes,” Leibig said. “The 92 murders in 2014 are in a country with less than 400,000 population.”
There is a major problem in finding proper indigent criminal defense.
Tonya Galanis, principal of the Dupuch law school, and Clive E. Guy, senior tutor and course director, run a legal aid clinic. This clinic tries to “fill in the gaps.”
During the October visit, of major interest among the law students was the Michael Brown case in Ferguson, Mo., police shootings in general and the death penalty.
Pepper, a former navy jet fighter pilot, has been a member of the Alexandria Public Defenders Office for 19 years. He is currently chief deputy to Chief Public Defender Melinda Douglas.
His experience includes trying every variety of criminal cases. As the chief deputy public defender Pepper manages the team of lawyers, training and handling jury trials almost constantly. He has served as adjunct professor of law at American University Law School.
Leibig is managing partner and leads the international study program. He is managing partner of the Law Office of Christopher Leibig and handles solely criminal cases, including death penalty cases and serious felony offenses throughout Virginia.
Leibig served 10 years in the Alexandria public defender’s office.
Joni Robin was a member of the public defender’s office for nine years before starting her own firm. Robin handles serious felony case and is a frequent lecturer.
Jasmin Mize is senior public defender in Alexandria. She also handles serious felony cases. In 2013 Mize handled the trial defense of the biggest sex-trafficking case in the Alexandria’s history.
Her experience has led to lectures abroad on trial techniques and the American jury trial system. She has conducted seminars in Santiago, Chile and Beirut, Lebanon.
During the Nassau visit, the teams took part in teaching law school classes, television and radio appearances and a public town hall meeting about criminal justice.