ACCR/PDAP Capital Case Series: Litigating Coerced Confessions

This training aims to provide defense attorneys with new tools with which to litigate their confession cases at the pre-trial, trial, and post-conviction stages. The training will begin with a summary of the most relevant social science on coercive police interrogation and coerced confessions. It will then address strategies for strengthening suppression arguments on voluntariness and Miranda grounds, as well as strategies for dealing with the PA Supreme Court’s current rule prohibiting the admission of false confession expert testimony. Lastly, the training will also discuss raising novel post-conviction claims – namely, a newly-discovered-evidence claim based on the evolution of the science on confessions and interrogations. 

FOR: All Public Defenders (attorneys, social service advocates, investigators and support staff) who provide capital representation

WHEN: September 25th, 2:30 – 4:30 PM

WHERE: Online

WHO: 

• Lauren Gottesman, Esq., Senior Staff Attorney at the Pennsylvania Innocence Project’s Strategic Litigation Department, Philadelphia, PA
• Nilam Sanghvi, Esq., Legal Director of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, Philadelphia, PA
• Liz DeLosa, Esq., Managing Attorney at the Pittsburgh Office of the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, Pittsburgh, PA

CLE: 1.5 credits

REGISTRATION: https://forms.gle/ptDqUEaZ5i8gbJq99