Melinda K. Pendergraph is Training Director for the Missouri State Public Defender's Office, serving in that capacity for the past eleven years. She has worked in the Missouri Public Defender's Office since 1986. During that time, Melinda primarily handled death penalty appeals in the Missouri Supreme Court. 

Melinda has served as faculty for state and national training programs, including National Legal Aid and Defender Associations Appellate Defender Training, NLADA's Leadership Institute, NLADA and NAIDE's Train the Trainer programs, NLADA's Life in the Balance, NAACP Legal Defense Funds Airlie Death Penalty Conference, the Federal Court's Persuasive Writing Workshops, the Missouri Bar, Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, and various State Public Defender organizations. She has taught a death penalty seminar at University of Missouri Columbia School of Law and has regularly worked with interns at MSPD. 

In 2006, Melinda received NLADA's Kutak-Dodd's Prize awarded annually to one public defender nationally for their dedication to equal justice. MACDL awarded Melinda their Lew Kollias Award for her appellate advocacy and their Bernard Edelman Award for sharing experience, knowledge and skills with fellow attorneys. In 1993, MSPD designated Melinda as their Defender of Distinction.

Alison Bloomquist is NLADA'S vice president of Strategic Alliances and Innovation. Before joining NLADA, Alison served for six years as director of training and education for the Connecticut Division of Public Defender Services, where she coordinated training for attorneys, investigators, social workers, and clerks in all aspects of criminal defense. She has been invited to teach federal and state public defenders all across the country, including as faculty at the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC), and has authored several trial skills publications. In addition to teaching, Alison has been trying public defense cases in New England for more than 15 years. She served for more than 10 years as a staff public defender in greater Boston, two of them as attorney‐in‐charge of the Norfolk Superior Court office at the Committee for Public Counsel Services. She has continued to try cases in Connecticut since joining the Connecticut bar in 2016. Alison is a graduate of Northeastern University School of Law and Boston University College of Arts and Sciences. She is an executive committee member of the National Alliance of Indigent Defense Educators (NAIDE) and a BPDA Certified Anti-Racism Trainer. She lives in West Hartford with her wife, three children, and their silver lab, Cooper. 

Amy Bartholow is the District Defender for the Central Capital Trial office of the Missouri State Public Defender System.  She leads a team of trial and appellate attorneys, investigators and mitigation specialists.  Her office recently won a life verdict for a person facing the death penalty for shooting a police officer.  They have successfully negotiated life sentences fornumerous capital defendants and they have not had a death verdict for over a decade.  Before Amy began leading the capital trial office, she litigated capital post-conviction appeals for death-sentenced clients. The majority of her career has been devoted to representing indigents incarcerated persons in both capital and non-capital, direct and post-conviction appeals, as well as habeas litigation.  In 2003-04, Amy briefed, argued and successfully defended the case of Missouri v. Seibert in the United States Supreme Court, safeguarding the rights guaranteed under Miranda v. Arizona. She has been invited to teach and mentor appellate public defenders in appellate litigation across the country, and she enjoys mentoring and educating interns in her office about the challenges and rewards of capital work. She looks forward to the day when capital punishment is abolished nationwide.  

Jennifer Bourn is the head of the appellate unit of the Connecticut public defender’s office. She has been representing clients at trial and on appeal in criminal cases for 20 years. In addition to her appellate work, she has considerable experience trying serious felony cases, handling habeas corpus cases, and working on death penalty cases at various levels of the process. She is currently and has been for several years an adjunct professor at UConn School of Law and Quinnipiac School of Law. She is co-running Criminal Appellate Clinics at both law schools and teaches Criminal Procedure, Advanced Criminal Procedure, and Habeas Corpus. Jenn was appointed by Governor Lamont to serve on the Commission on Medicolegal Investigations (oversight commission for Office of the CT Medical Examiner); was appointed by Chief Justice Robinson to serve on the Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules; and appointed by Justice Raheem Mullins to serve on the Code of Evidence Oversight Committee. She is also a member of numerous public defender committees, including the Assigned Counsel Standing Committee, our Legislative Committee, our Racial Justice and Cultural Competency Committee, and the negotiating team regarding attorney wages. Jenn is an active member of the Connecticut Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, was President in 2021-2022, and served on the Executive Committee for several years. She has organized and served as faculty for dozens of CLE programs for both CCDLA and the public defender’s office. 

Marilena David is the Deputy Director at the State Appellate Defender Office in Michigan. She has been at SADO since 2007 when she began as an intern. She represents individuals on appeal of their felony convictions and individuals who are being resentenced after serving unconstitutional juvenile life without parole sentences. Marilena manages the Criminal Defense Resource Center and provides training, resources, and support to the criminal defense bar. She regularly trains lawyers around the country on writing, research, sentencing mitigation, client relationships, issue spotting, sustainability, and more. Marilena launched and manages Project Reentry, a program focused on supporting people on their journey home from prison. Marilena serves on the Board of Directors for numerous Michigan defense education programs and is past chair of the State Bar of Michigan’s (SBM) Prisons & Corrections Section where she currently serves on the Council. She serves on the National Association for Public Defense Core Well-Being Committee and contributes to developing and implementing national standards for public defense sustainability. Marilena is the recipient of the 2014 SBM Outstanding Young Lawyer Award, the 2014 Criminal Defense Attorneys of Michigan Justice for All Award, and the 2018 Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association Community Impact Award. In 2019, she was appointed by Governor Whitmer to serve on the Michigan Community Corrections Board. In 2021, she was appointed by the Michigan Supreme Court to serve on the Michigan Judicial Council. 

Shawna Mackey Geiger is the Director of Engagement for the Colorado Office of the Respondent Parents? Counsel. Her focus is on supporting and improving family defenders in Colorado and around the country, as well as working to improve and abolish the family policing system. Before moving to ORPC she was the Director of Training for the Office of the Federal Public Defender in Denver and was previously the Training Director for the Colorado Office of Alternate Defense Counsel. Prior to her role as a trainer, Ms. Geiger represented clients as a public defender as well as in private practice where she focused on indigent criminal and juvenile defense.? Ms. Geiger teaches trial advocacy, storytelling, persuasion, leadership, trauma-informed practice, equity and diversity training, and client communication skills across the country. She also serves on the Board of Regents of the National Criminal Defense College. Shawna works with national defender organizations to ensure that family defenders advocate in an anti-racist manner and are consistently working to create equity for clients with disabilities and those of the LGBTQ and BIPOC communities.   

Justin Heim is the Director of Learning Innovation at the National Legal Aid & Defender Association (NLADA). Previously, he worked for 12 years at the Wisconsin State Public Defender as a Staff Development Program Specialist in their Training Division and a Mitigation Specialist in the WISPD’s Appellate Division. Before working in Public Defense, Justin held various positions in community mental health in Colorado. Justin received his BA in Psychology from Michigan State University, and his MA in Contemplative Counseling Psychology from Naropa University in Boulder, Colorado.

Stephanie Hoeplinger is a capital post-conviction attorney with the Missouri State Public Defender’s Office in St. Louis, Missouri. She handles post-conviction cases in circuit courts and on appeal throughout Missouri and direct appeals from felony convictions in St. Louis. An Ohio native, Stephanie earned a B.A. from the Ohio State University and a J.D. from Washington University in St. Louis. She has previously practiced at a private criminal defense firm in St. Louis and as contract counsel for the Committee for Public Counsel Services in Boston, Massachusetts. She is passionate about ensuring defendants have a fair, impartial jury and has presented on topics relating to fair cross-section and Batson challenges. 

Larry Komp received his law degree from Washington University of St. Louis in 1992. Larry practiced eight years with the Ohio Public Defender, Capital Resource Center and then Habeas Unit.  In 2000, Larry relocated to St. Louis and entered private practice focusing on death penalty habeas. Larry represented in federal proceedings in Arkansas, Missouri, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana. In 2017, Larry became the Capital Habeas Unit, Chief, for the Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Missouri. Larry’s entire career has been dedicated to representing individuals sentenced to death. 

La Mer Kyle-Griffiths is the Division Leader of the Training Division with the Los Angeles County Public Defender’s Office. She has been a lifelong public defender amplifying the voice of the poor in Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Washington and now California. Prior to her role in the largest public defender's office in the world, she was the Assistant Public Defender of the Santa Barbara Public Defender’s Office. Previously, she was the Director of Training and Complex Litigation with Still She Rises in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In Washington, she was responsible for designing, organizing, and facilitating training for the 400+ team members of the Department of Public Defense. There she became certified to teach and facilitate on issues of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. Before that she practiced for over 17 years as a public defender in both Kentucky and Massachusetts. In Kentucky, she was part of the Capital Defense Unit and litigated several death penalty cases. She has sat on many case reviews on death penalty cases and continues to teach nationally and at various state programs on capital litigation, jury selection, and mitigation. She has taught administrative professionals, investigators, attorneys, mitigation specialists, law students, and leaders across the country in the areas of appeals, capital litigation, litigation with a racial and gender lens, investigation, sentencing, trial skills, supervision tools, and forensics. She has litigated juvenile, capital, felony, and misdemeanor cases as well as arguing two appeals to the Kentucky Supreme Court. She has been an adjunct professor at the Seattle University College of Law, the Iowa University of Law, Boston College and currently teaches at the Darrow Baldus Death Penalty College, the National Criminal Defense College, Gideon’s Promise, and Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop. A graduate of the University of Dayton School of Law she has been a lifelong advocate and is looking forward to her continuing adventure with her family including three young women, one just starting at UCLA, who all learned to crow “Acquittal” early! 

Colleen Marion has been a postconviction and appellate defender at the Wisconsin State Public Defender for the past thirteen years. She represents clients in misdemeanor, felony, juvenile, involuntary commitment, and family defense cases. Colleen completed her undergraduate degree at Lewis and Clark College in 2008 and graduated from the University of Wisconsin Law School in 2012. She is a familiar face at public defender training programs and has served as faculty at the Wisconsin Appellate Skills Academy. Colleen is a returning ADT faculty member and is thrilled to be back.

Ms. Marron holds a B.A. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland - College Park and a J.D. from the Seton Hall University School of Law. At Seton Hall Law, she was the recipient of the Raymond Del Tufo, Jr. Constitutional Law Award. Upon graduation from law school in 2013, Ms. Marron started her legal career in the Monmouth Trial Region of the New Jersey Office of the Public Defender. As a staff attorney, she represented clients in a variety of trials and motion practice, including charges of drug possession and distribution, aggravated assault, stalking, and homicides. She was named the OPD’s Attorney of the Month in November 2018 for back-to-back trial wins. 

In February 2019, Ms. Marron was named the Deputy Public Defender of the Conviction Integrity Unit. In this role, she oversees the quality representation provided to Public Defender clients in their post-conviction relief litigation throughout New Jersey. Ms. Marron coordinates internal training for attorneys and investigative staff regarding common post-conviction litigation issues, as well as annual training for judiciary law clerks across the state. She also travels to other jurisdictions to work as faculty at their post-conviction and appellate annual training sessions. In 2020, Ms. Marron served as the designee of the Public Defender on the Supreme Court Working Group on the Duty of Confidentiality and Wrongful Convictions. In 2024, she served as a panelist at the Seton Hall Law Journal of Legislation and Public Policy Symposium on an Innocence Centered View of New Jersey’s Post Conviction Jurisprudence.

Ben Miller is the Deputy Chief of the Utah Indigent Appellate Defense Division. IADD was created in 2020 as Utah’s first statewide office tasked with indigent defense representation. The IADD has responsibility for direct appeals from adult criminal cases arising throughout most of the state. Ben spent the bulk of his legal career as an appellate public defender, first at the Maryland Office of the Public Defender and then with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. Most recently before joining the IADD, Ben served as a principal at The Wren Collective, a strategic advising firm, where he provided research, policy, legislative, and communications support to elected officials, grassroots organizers, and public figures seeking to transform the criminal legal system across the country. Ben has authored or co-authored op-eds that have appeared in the Washington Post, Slate, USA Today, and Politico, as well as reports on the experience of public defenders at the outset of the coronavirus pandemic and the mechanics for prosecutors to create sentence review units. He taught as an adjunct professor at the University of Maryland School of Law, University of Baltimore School of Law, and American University Washington College of Law. Ben received his undergraduate degree from Northeastern University and his J.D. from American University Washington College of Law in 2005.

Erin Pinder is an Attorney Advisor for the Department of Justice, Office of the Pardon Attorney. Prior to joining the Office of the Pardon Attorney, she served as an Assistant Federal Defender in the Middle District of Georgia and as a Visiting Attorney Advisor with the Defender Services Office in the Program Operation Division for the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts.  She also previously served as an Assistant Public Defender with Georgia Public Defense Council’s Appellate Division.  Her legal career began in New Jersey where she practiced criminal defense and represented parents in child neglect and abuse cases.  Erin was also a middle school science teacher in Tampa, Florida, where she merged her love for science and education.   

Erin received her Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from Florida A&M University and her Juris Doctorate from North Carolina Central University of Law.  

Rachel Schaefer is an Assistant Federal Public Defender with the Capital Habeas Unit for the Northern District of Texas, in Dallas. In this role, she represents people sentenced to death by Texas juries and courts in their federal habeas petitions and related litigation. Prior to starting this job in October 2022, Rachel was a Senior Habeas Corpus Counsel with the Habeas Corpus Resource Center in San Francisco, California for nearly a decade. Rachel previously was a Deputy Public Advocate with the Department of Public Advocacy in La Grange, Kentucky. Rachel is a graduate of Georgetown Law and Emory University. When not wearing her white cowlady hat and warding off Texas prosecutors, Rachel live in California with her partner, sassy daughter, ornery cats, and unhinged puppy.

Jedd C. Schneider was delighted to join the Central Appellate division of MSPD in August 2016 after serving as law clerk to The Honorable Kenneth R. Garrett, III in Jackson County, Missouri.  He does direct and PCR appeals.  When not skirmishing the government for his clients, Jedd gets hyped for Scouts BSA #outdoorsing with his son, Finn, strong Belgian ales, cheering on Tottenham Hotspur, and contemporary art music. 

A reformed opera singer but unrepentant music geek, Jedd was probably the only kid on his block who was into both Warrant and Pavarotti.  While attending the UMKC School of Law he once drove 1,000 miles one way to ask a member of Van der Graaf Generator three questions.  Jedd occasionally still gives papers at musicology conferences, his research interests centering on the intersection of American minimalism and Krautrock, as well as the influence of both Magma and Captain Beefheart on the postminimalist diaspora.   

David Singleton received his J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School in 1991, and his A.B. in Economics and Public Policy, cum laude, from Duke University in 1987. Upon graduation from law school, David received a Skadden Fellowship to work at the Legal Action Center for the Homeless in New York City, where he practiced for three years. He then worked as a public defender for seven years, first with the Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem and then with the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. After moving to Cincinnati in the summer of 2001, David practiced at Thompson Hine before joining OJPC as its Executive Director in July 2002. David is also a Professor of Law at Northern Kentucky University’s Salmon P. Chase College of Law. 

Kristen Stanley is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Lawyering Program at Cornell Law School.  Before coming to Cornell, she taught legal writing and analysis to first-year J.D. students at Vanderbilt Law School.   

 For more than a decade, Professor Stanley represented death-sentenced individuals in their federal habeas corpus and state post-conviction proceedings. As an Assistant Federal Public Defender in the Capital Habeas Unit of the Office of the Federal Public Defender for the Middle District of Tennessee, Professor Stanley represented individuals under sentence of death in their federal habeas proceedings in Federal District Court, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, the United States Supreme Court, and Tennessee state court proceedings. Professor Stanley also practiced in Louisiana where she represented indigent men sentenced to death in state post-conviction proceedings.   

Professor Stanley also has her Masters in Social Work.  She specializes in understanding the effects of and effective treatment of trauma. Her focus is on the ways in which exposure to traumatic experiences impacts neurobiology, human development, brain functioning, and interpersonal relationships, particularly in the context of the criminal judicial system. She is also interested in the social, cultural, and political forces that shape exposure to, and recovery from, traumatic experiences. 

Travis Stearns is an advocate for the right to counsel for all disenfranchised persons. He has worked in public defense most of his career, currently with the Washington State Office of Public Defense. A graduate of George Washington University Law School, he has worked for the New York City Legal Aid Society, the Whatcom County Public Defender, the Washington Defender Association, and the Washington Appellate Project. He focuses on training and substantive policy reform, having seen success in the courts and with the legislature. He is a nationally recognized speaker on issues relating to injustice, leadership, trial advocacy, the right to counsel and the impact of criminal convictions. He has published articles in law school journals, primarily on issues relating to the impact of criminal convictions on reentry. He is an adjunct professor at Seattle University School of Law. He has chaired or been a member of the WSBA's Commission on Public Defense, NLADA’s Education Committee, the Supreme Court’s Minority and Justice Commission, and the ABA’s Standards Committee. His major accomplishments as a litigator includes arguing landmark cases in the Washington Supreme Court on issues of racial injustice. 

Mikel Steinfeld supervises the Appeals Unit of the Maricopa County Public Defender’s Office in Phoenix, Arizona, and he’s passionate about storytelling. Mikel had been doing appellate work for just a couple of years when he first attended this conference. It was life-changing. Before the conference, Mikel struggled every time he had to write a statement of facts. He’d hide in his office, lock the door, turn up the music way too loud, and grind his way to a dissatisfactory result. This program changed that. Encouraged by so many people who were committed to storytelling and effective advocacy, Mikel went home committed to telling his client’s story. With every new client, Mikel worked on the craft--he read books on plot, attended lectures about character, and taught classes on storytelling in appellate advocacy. Since attending, Mikel has consistently worked to tell his client’s story in more effective, compelling, and creative ways. And because of that commitment, Mikel has found appellate advocacy even more rewarding. 

Stacey Lannert serves as the District Defender for the Missouri State Public Defender Parole Revocation Defense Team.  This team was created in 2021 to assist with parole revocation issues.  Previously, Stacey worked as a Staff Attorney with The Bail Project and has served as a Public Defender in St. Louis City, Missouri.  In 2020, Stacey received the New Leaders in Advocacy Award from NLADA for her dedication in advancing the cause of equal justice on behalf of low-income clients.  
Stacey is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Law and holds a B.A. from Southeast Missouri State University.   While in law school, Stacey interned with the Office of the Missouri Governor, where she assisted with creating Missouri’s first rubric for clemency review.

Stacey’s voice for advocacy is amplified by her background and personal experience with the criminal legal field.  Stacey is a double clemency recipient who is able to connect the cause of justice with her own story.

Stacey is admitted to practice in Missouri.