Back in 2019 Legal Ease Podcast produced an episode on bankruptcy law in the marijuana business, where Judge Dan Collins and ASU Law Professor Laura Coordes spoke on the matter. At the beginning of this year in January we got word from Judge Collins that our episode reached Guam and specifically the ears of Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood. We were delighted to hear our episode helped inform the topic of marijuana and businesses in Guam. 

This episode is part 2, with Judge Tydingco-Gatewood joining us after listening to Part 1 of our episode. Judge Collins also joins us for Part 2 to inform the bankruptcy side of the marijuana industry, and we also have Professor Jelani Jefferson Exum here with us today as a guest to inform us on the criminal justice side of the marijuana industry. 

This episode is split into two sections -- one criminal justice focused and the other bankruptcy focused. Co-hosts ASU Law Professors Valena Beety and Laura Coordes take us through this episode, where the focus is to educate audiences on multiple aspects of the marijuana industry.

Recreational marijuana is now legal for us in Arizona since November 2020. Arizona marijuana sales for the adult-use market officially began in January after state officials began notifying retail business license applicants that they’d been approved. This marks the fastest transitionfrom voter-approval to sales implementation of any state that has legalized marijuana todate. There are still restrictions in place for old and new marijuana users, as well as many lingering questions — some of which we’ll explore today.

Legal Considerations After Marijuana Legalization

Today's podcast episode features leaders in reforming accountability for police who use excessive or deadly force against civilians. They each have proposed statutory reforms, which have been adopted in this past year. We're joined by Professor Cynthia Lee at the George Washington University Law School, Professor Catherine Smith at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and Professor Frank Rudy Cooper at University of Nevada – Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law, where he directs the Program on Race, Gender, and Policing.

Legal-Eease & A4J Podcast Episode: Police Use of Force Reform

Join us for our podcast spinoff launch for MEASURED JUSTICE, covering criminal justice reform topics in America. 

For our first episode, we discuss issues in prison which precipitated the Dignity Act and similar legislation across the country.

Guests: Kurt Altman, State Director in Arizona and New Mexico for Right on Crime, Owner and Principal of Kurt M. Altman, P.L.C. a law firm and lobbying practice built on quality advocacy; Holly Harris, President and Executive Director of the Justice Action Network; Darrell Hill, Policy Director of the ACLU of Arizona; Kara Williams, Smart Justice Organizer of the ACLU of Arizona; and Pamela Winn, Founder of RestoreHer US. America.

MEASURED JUSTICE - EPISODE ONE: THE DIGNITY ACT

In this episode, MEASURED JUSTICE invites legal experts to discuss Batson and peremptory challenges.

MEASURED JUSTICE - BATSON PART I - SCHOLARLY EDITION

Today on this podcast episode, we’re talking about criminal justice in Indian County.  We’ll hear from 3 leaders and scholars in Indian County to discuss this important topic.   
 
We’re fortunate to be joined by
Addie Rolnick, the San Manuel Band of Mission Indians Professor of Law at University of Nevada Las Vegas Law School and Faculty Director of their Indian Nations Gaming & Governance Program; Robert Miller, Professor of Law at Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and enrolled citizen of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe, as well as the Interim Chief Justice for the Pascua Yaqui Tribe Court of Appeals; Chrissi Nimmo, Deputy Attorney General for the Cherokee Nation and a citizen of the Cherokee Nation.

MEASURED JUSTICE - Criminal Justice in Indian Country

Discriminatory and aggressive policing has socialized a generation of Black teenagers to fear, resent, and resist the police. In the book The Rage of Innocence: How America Criminalizes Black Youth, Author and Georgetown University Law Professor Kristin Henning draws upon 25 years of experience representing Black youth in Washington, D.C.’s juvenile courts to confront America’s irrational, manufactured fears of these young people and makes a powerfully compelling case that the crisis in racist American policing begins with its relationship to Black children. In this episode of Measured Justice, our hosts Erik Luna and Valena Beety are joined by Associate Dean for Clinical Education, the Director of the Bluhm Legal Clinic, and the Mayer Brown/Robert A. Helman Professor of Law at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Robin Walker Sterling, to speak with Professor Henning about her book and how we can stop criminalizing Black children by using common sense solutions.

MEASURED JUSTICE - THE RAGE OF INNOCENCE

April is Second Chance Month which begs the question - second chances or second opportunities? This podcast dives into the background of second chance month, explores legislation and various second chance proposals, and provides context for the landscape of clemency in light of new awareness. In this episode our hosts Erik Luna and Ashley Oddo are joined by Professor and Robert Marion Short Distinguished Chair in Law, at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Mark Osler, and Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Correctional Solutions at ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Kevin Wright. Professor Osler and Professor Wright draw upon a combined 45 years of experience and share their expertise while discussing second chances, clemency, prison framework, and the retributive nature of our country as a framework for driving second chance policy decisions.

MEASURED JUSTICE - Second Chances

Each year millions of Americans face the reality of living with a mental illness. Since 1949, the United States has observed the month of May as Mental Health Awareness Month to raise awareness and educate the public about mental illnesses, the realities of living with these conditions, and strategies for attaining mental health and wellness. In this episode of Measured Justice, our hosts Erik Luna and Ashley Oddo are joined by Stephen Morse, the Ferdinand Wakeman Hubbell Professor of Law, Professor of Psychology and Law in Psychiatry, and  Associate Director for the Center for Neuroscience & Society at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School; as well as Margo Schlanger, the Wade H. and Dores M. McCree Collegiate Professor of Law at the University of Michigan Law School, to discuss the effects of mental health on the criminal justice system. Our guests take a look at mental health while incarcerated including access to care, access to medications and the types of charges that can be attributed to mental health issues; the implications of solitary confinement on a prisoner’s mental health; and the fact that prisoners with mental health issues are more likely to be incarcerated for a longer period of time and have a worse experience in incarceration than those without.

MEASURED JUSTICE - MENTAL HEALTH MONTH

When Academy for Justice Deputy Director Valena Beety first became a federal prosecutor, her goal was to protect victims, especially women, from cycles of violence. What she discovered was that not only did prosecutions often fail to help victims, they frequently relied on false information, forensic fraud, and police and prosecutor misconduct. Seeking change, Beety began working in the Innocence Movement, helping to free factually innocent people through DNA testing and criminal justice reform. In her new book Manifesting Justice, Beety focuses on the shocking story of her client Leigh Stubbs—a young, queer woman in Mississippi, convicted of a horrific crime she did not commit because of her sexual orientation and bogus bite mark evidence.

 

In this episode of Measured Justice, A4J Faculty Director Erik Luna speaks with Beety; as well as Richard Saenz, Senior Attorney and Criminal Justice and Police Misconduct Strategist at Lambda Legal; and Candace Bond-Theriault, Director of Racial Justice Policy & Strategy for the Center for Gender & Sexuality Law at Columbia Law School, to discuss the implications of Beety’s book and the broader story of a broken criminal justice system where defendants—including disproportionate numbers of women of color and queer individuals—are convicted due to racism, prejudice, coerced confessions, and false identifications.

MEASURED JUSTICE: MANIFESTING JUSTICE

Today on this podcast episode we talk about FREE BUT NOT FREE, post-conviction work. We are joined by Lindsay Herf, Executive Director of The AZ Justice Project, Karen Smith, Senior Litigation Counsel for the AZ Justice Project,  and Chris Tapp, who served 20 years in prison in Idaho for a crime he did not commit (was ultimately fully exonerated). You  can find their full biographies on the Academy for Justice's website.

MEASURED JUSTICE - FREE BUT NOT FREE

In this episode of Measured Justice, we take a look at behavioral jurisprudence, or the hidden behavioral forces that drive society’s reactions and responses to the law. The discussion is based off of the book The Behavioral Code and we are joined by its authors, Benjamin van Rooij, Professor of Law and Society and Director of Research at the University of Amsterdam; Director- Centre for Law and Behaviour (C-Lab) at the Amsterdam Law School-University of Amsterdam; and Global Professor of Law at the University of California Irvine School of Law; and Adam Fine, Assistant Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Arizona State University. Is punishment a necessary element to modify undesirable behavior? Where may punishment not achieve our desired goal of reducing criminal behavior? Are there specific areas of the law where other types of interventions may work better? Join us for a fascinating discussion that covers these areas and so much more.

Measured Justice - The Behavioral Code

In December 2020, Notre Dame Law School Professor Stephen F. Smith, wrote a post-election update for the Academy for Justice detailing how he saw criminal justice efforts playing out in the newly elected Biden Administration over the next four years. In this episode of Measured Justice, we spoke with Professor Smith to see where we are at two years later in the fight for criminal justice reform, specifically in the rise and fall of the “defund the police” movement; President Biden’s “Advancing Effective, Accountable Policing, and Criminal Justice Practices to Enhance Public Trust and Public Safety Executive Order; sentencing, mass incarceration and racial disparities; and whether the Biden Administration can reconcile its own criminal justice reform goals with those within the Democratic and Republican Parties.

MEASURED JUSTICE: Criminal Justice Reform Updates Two Years Post Election with Prof. Stephen Smith

In this episode of Measured Justice, we take a deep dive into victims’ rights, an area of the criminal justice system that can sometimes get lost in the shuffle when talking about reform. All states, the District of Columbia, and most U.S. territories have statutory or constitutional provisions that ensure rights and protections for victims of crime. Two key federal laws also address victims’ rights. But what does that mean? Today we are joined by Steve Twist, founder of Arizona Voice for Crime Victims and VP and general counsel at Services Group of America, as well as Shannon Johanni, research director for the Academy for Justice, a former prosecutor and victim advocate, and longtime criminal justice professional. Our guests discuss the origins of victims’ rights in Arizona and beyond, as well as what hurdles are faced in practice (i.e. when a victim is unwilling or reluctant to participate in prosecution), and what needs to be done to ensure justice when a victim’s rights conflict with a defendant’s rights.

MEASURED JUSTICE — Victims’ Rights: In History and Practice

Measured Justice is excited to launch a new series – Leaders and Legends of Criminal Justice Reform – where we will be speaking with those who have paved the way and led the charge in trying to make positive changes to how our criminal justice system works. In this inaugural episode, we speak with Pat Nolan, Director Emeritus of the American Conservative Union Foundation’s Nolan Center for Justice.

What happens when a once, tough-on-crime, rising member of the GOP finds himself in federal prison with the same people he’s spent his career advocating harsh sentences for? Hear from Pat as he discusses his childhood, his rise through the ranks of the GOP and his subsequent downfall that will eventually give him a new outlook on incarceration and lead to the second half of his career – becoming a champion for Criminal Justice Reform. This will be part one of a two part episode. Stay tuned for part two to be released next week.

Leaders and Legends of Criminal Justice Reform with Pat Nolan (Part One)

Measured Justice is excited to launch a new series – Leaders and Legends of Criminal Justice Reform – where we will be speaking with those who have paved the way and led the charge in trying to make positive changes to how our criminal justice system works. Last week we posted our inaugural episode to this series where we spoke with Pat Nolan, Director Emeritus of the American Conservative Union Foundation’s Nolan Center for Justice. Pat’s story as a once tough-on-crime rising member of the GOP who found himself in federal prison with the same people he spent his career advocating tough sentences for, had so much to unpack that we had to split it into two episodes. Here is that conclusion. Hear from Pat as he discusses his time in prison and how it gave him a new outlook on incarceration and lead to the second half of his career – becoming a champion for Criminal Justice Reform.

Leaders and Legends of Criminal Justice Reform with Pat Nolan (Part Two)

A diverse group of practitioners and scholars recently gathered for a working-group process to create the Miscarriages of Justice: Litigating Beyond Factual Innocence Guide. The hope is that this Guide will provide post-conviction litigators, conviction integrity prosecutors, judges, legislators, and wrongly convicted individuals themselves with innovative and creative approaches to addressing miscarriages of justice. In this episode, we are joined by the three authors of the Guide, Valena Beety Professor of Law and Deputy Director of the Academy for Justice at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University; Karen Newirth, Founder and Principal, Newirth Law, PLLC; and Karen Thompson, Civil Rights Attorney, ACLU New Jersey. Our guests discuss the importance of this guide, how it can be used to create meaningful change, and where they see future research in this area going.

The Miscarriages of Justice: Litigating Beyond Factual Innocence Guide will be unveiled at the Miscarriages of Justice Symposium hosted by the Academy for Justice on January 27, 2023.

Miscarriages of Justice: Litigating Beyond Factual Innocence

This episode of Measured Justice is a bit different from the others. On Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023, The Academy for Justice, in partnership with the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE) and the Tempe Police Department, hosted an event for local high school students titled, The TALK! “Your Voices, Your Choices”: Candid conversations between youth and law enforcement. The goal of the event was to bring together local youth, local law enforcement and youth specialists who provide social and emotional support to students, to have candid conversations around some difficult topics – the positive and negative effects of social media, mental health, and teen perceptions about police.

We are fortunate to be joined for this episode by two key individuals who made this event happen and participated in its success: Ashley Oddo, Director of the Academy for Justice at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and Commander Raj Johnson, Tempe Police Department. Ashley and Commander Johnson discuss the key takeaways from the event, what momentum can be taken from this event moving forward, and what some specific next steps are.

The TALK! “Your Voices, Your Choices”: Conversations between youth & law enforcement

In this episode of Measured Justice, we'll be discussing criminal justice reform at the twilight of marijuana prohibition, and, in particular, securing the release of those incarcerated for non-violent marijuana related offenses. The issue has received increased attention given the sea change in state and local marijuana law occurring across the nation, as more and more states opting for regulation and taxation over crime and punishment. We are fortunate to be joined by two individuals directly impacted by the ups and downs of marijuana reform, as well as one of their attorneys: Luke Scarmazzo co-founded one of the nation's first licensed medical cannabis dispensaries in California in 2004 which he successfully operated until 2006 when he arrested by federal authorities. Although his business was completely legal in California, he was convicted under federal law and sentenced to 22 years in prison, serving nearly 15 years before his release by a federal Judge in February 2023. We are also joined by Kerrie Dent counsel with King & Spalding in its Special Matters and Investigations practice in Washington, D.C., where she focuses primarily on white collar criminal defense, complex civil litigation and internal investigations. Ms. Dent successfully represented Mr. Scarmazzo in obtaining his recent release. Finally, we are joined by Weldon Angelos, president of the Weldon Project, co-founder of Mission [Green], as well as a music producer and leading criminal justice reform advocate. Mr. Angelos received a full presidential pardon after serving more than a decade of a 55 year mandatory federal sentence for low-level marijuana transactions. This is an eye opening episode on what happens when bad drug policy goes wrong.

MEASURED JUSTICE - Criminal Justice at the Twilight of Marijuana Prohibition

In this episode of Measured Justice, we’re talking about the Academy for Justice’s newest initiative, Rethinking Crime and Violence. This initiative serves to comprehensively explore and reconcile violent crime and its role in the criminal justice system. The Academy for Justice has formed a Blue-Ribbon Committee made up of leading scholars, drawn from numerous disciplines, who will share and integrate their academic expertise, and criminal justice professionals and policy makers who will contribute their practical expertise. A4J hosted the first hybrid brainstorming session with the Blue-Ribbon Committee members in mid-April. In this episode, you will hear snippets from some of the BRC members who attended, recapping their key takeaways from the event and where they see this project moving forward.

MEASURED JUSTICE: Rethinking Crime and Violence — An Introduction

There has been a significant reckoning in the US on the issue of police use of force and police reform in the last few years. Some support solutions which would aim to reduce police use of force overall while others believe we must begin by holding those officers who use force improperly accountable for their actions. In today’s episode of Measured Justice, we speak with Jessica Katzenstein - Postdoctoral Fellow for Inequality in America Initiative at Harvard University and Postdoctoral Affiliate for Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management as well as Visiting Research Scholar for the Global Human Rights Hub at Arizona State University. Jessica brings an anthropological perspective to the Academy for Justice’s Blue Ribbon Committee for Rethinking Crime and Violence. In this episode we explore some of Jessica’s work in the areas of police militarization, decriminalization, and police training, and discuss how this all fits in with the Academy for Justice’s Rethinking Crime and Violence initiative.

MEASURED JUSTICE - Rethinking Crime and Violence from an Anthropology Perspective

Let's first amend our minds with the basics of Constitutional Law (and more specifically our First Amendment) and navigate why freedom of speech is crucial to America and all of its people which include students, faculty, and invited speakers on campuses across America. With protests turning violent on campuses in recent years, we explore free speech specifically on college campuses weighing the interests of different parties and exploring possible balances. Co-hosts Amena Kheshtchin-Kamel and Chase Turrentine help navigate these waters in the form of a socratic discussion with experts Dr. Stefanie Lindquist (Deputy Provost of Arizona State University) and Dr. Joseph Russomanno (Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication Professor and Adjunct Professor at the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law) who are experts on Constitutional Law.

Legal-Ease - Episode One: Free Speech on College Campuses

The topic decision for episode 2 was an easy one, since we took a panel on eSports at Phoenix Comic Fest this year, the timing worked in our favor to do an episode navigating the eSports arena. Questions explored in this episode seek to guide investors and gamers (pro and amateur) and work in conjunction with our hour long eSports panel (both recorded within an hour of each other and meant to be listened to one after the other.) Because we recorded this episode 45 minutes before our panel at PCF, this was an impromptu recording, recorded outside our studio and required phoning in one of our interviewees, Harris Peskin, from New York. Thank you to our guests Harris Peskin and Cisco Maldonado for their time and expertise. Harris offers his expertise as one of the nation's leading eSports lawyers and Cisco offers his perspective as an eSports investor. For detailed bios, please visit our website at legaleasepodcast.com

Episode Two: eSports Business & Law

In this episode we discuss the significance of the Music Modernization Act, a ground breaking bill for the music industry that made its way to the White House just this past week. The MMA has been described by many as the first piece of legislation in decades to offer fair play to musicians. Not only has the MMA found common ground between opposing interests in the music industry, but it has also earned the support of both Republicans and Democrats in Congress. A lot of work has been put into this bill, with an extensive history leading up to it. We are joined by Steven Marks, chief of digital business and general counsel at The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) who kindly gave us his time to further analyze this bill for us all to better understand what it means for the music industry and why you should know about it.

Episode Four: Understanding The Music Modernization Act

Catch our latest episode now on the American Judicial System, discussing AZ state courts, with co-hosts Amena, a recent law graduate, and Charles, a law professor at ASU's Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law, who interviewed guests Judge Janet Barton who is the presiding judge for the Arizona Superior Court for Maricopa County and retired Justice Ruth McGregor of the Arizona Supreme Court. You'll hear from two judges on the life of being a judge and what that means exactly from challenges, to responsibilities, to being human. Americans and people around the globe in recent years have especially been interested in the American judiciary and this episode seeks to bring the people closer to the system by further educating them about our judiciary, hearing from two judges who continue to dedicate themselves to public service. Enjoy!

Episode Five: American Judicial System Part I

Co-hosts Amena Kheshtchin and Herbert Paine interview John Dacey, who is Founder and Executive Director of Abolish Private Prisons and Robert Craig, Staff Attorney at Abolish Private Prisons. In this episode, we interview John and Robert on the privatization of prisons and the two of them discuss how private prisons violate U.S. Constitution. They are determined to have their day in court before the U.S. Supreme Court to abolish for-profit incarceration.

December 2018

For-Profit Incarceration and the U.S. Constitution

This month’s episode covers Writers Guild of America and the #WGAStaffingBoost #WGASolidarityChallenge and navigates the legal  battle between WGA and ATA which made headlines earlier this month. Amena Kheshtchin-Kamel interviewed WGA writers Liz Alper and Greg Bernstein. Liz Alper is a driving force behind the movement on Twitter, where she's graciously spent her time keeping track of writers recommended by upper level writers for staffing season. Greg Bernstein is a lawyer who is also a film screenwriter, and his film "Official Secrets" premiered at Sundance and will hit the theaters in August. Enjoy the episode and please leave us some comments!

The WGA-ATA Standoff: WGA Solidarity and What it Means

This episode is on COVID-19 and Tribal Communities, co-hosted by Amena and Valena. They interview (1) Alane V. Breland, who is the Chief Prosecutor for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) in Scottsdale, Arizona, and a Special Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Arizona, (2) Chief Prosecutor Jennifer Henry who is currently the Acting Chief Prosecutor for the Navajo Nation, and (3)Judge Alfred Urbina, an Associate Judge for the Pascua Yaqui Tribal Court. Judge Urbina is the 5th Yaqui Tribal member to sit on the Pascua Yaqui bench. They join us to candidly discuss how COVID-19 is affecting Native communities and what they are actively doing to help flatten the curve.

COVID-19 Pandemic Impact on Tribal Communities

Legal-Ease partnered up with ASU Law's Academy for Justice once again to bring you our next episode titled "Mending Relationships in the Community: Where do we go from here?" with guest co-hosts Dawn Walton and Andre C. Anderson. Our guests are Police Chief Jeri Williams of the Phoenix Police Department, Police Chief U. Reneé Hall of Dallas Police Department, Lynda Williams who is the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement's (NOBLE)Vice President, and ASU Law professor Ben McJunkin who discuss next steps on mending community trust and what that will look like.

Mending Relationships in the Community: Where do we go from here?

In partnership with the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law's Academy for Justice, we interviewed both candidates for Maricopa County Attorney — Allister Adel and Julie Gunnigle — on their stances on criminal justice topics.

Here is current Maricopa County Attorney Allister Adel's interview.

An Interview With Maricopa County Attorney Candidates On Criminal Justice Reform – Allister Adel

In partnership with the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law's Academy for Justice, we interviewed both candidates for Maricopa County Attorney — Allister Adel and Julie Gunnigle — on their stances on criminal justice topics.

Here is Julie Gunnigle's interview.

An Interview With Maricopa County Attorney Candidates On Criminal Justice Reform – Julie Gunnigle

In partnership with the Academy for Justice, we covered an episode on “The Controlled Substances Act at 50 Years”, which was a wonderful conference held at ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law in February 2020 before quarantine. 

The timing for this episode couldn’t be better, as there is an ongoing national discussion on War on Drugs, the Opioid Crisis, Racial Bias, and Women’s Reproductive Rights. Host Chase Turrentine sits with our guests to discuss all these topics.

Ethan Nadelmann (founder of Drug Policy Alliance), Deborah Small (Executive Director of Break the Chains), Aila Hoss (Professor of Law at the University of Tulsa College of Law, and Marisa Rodriguez (Director, San Francisco Office of Cannabis) are leaders in this area and they take us through crucial aspects of these issues -- regulation, criminal justice reform, impact on Native communities and other marginalized communities. 

Biographies can be found on our website at legaleasepodcast.com and this episode can be streamed on Spotify, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Soundcloud, and now iHeartRadio at "Legal-Ease Podcast" --give it a listen and leave a comment for discussion!

The Controlled Substances Act At 50 Years

Throughout 2020, Legal-Ease Podcast produced episodes with partner ASU Law's Academy for Justice, covering COVID-19 and its impact across communities.

This episode discusses COVID-19's impact on Black communities, and the conversation navigates key history, vaccination, and steps toward building trust. We welcome guests Dr. Akilah A. Jefferson Shah and Dr. Howard Henderson.

Akilah A. Jefferson Shah, MD, MSc, is an expert in health policy and bioethics, an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences College of Medicine (UAMS) and researcher at Arkansas Children’s Research Institute (ACRI).

Howard Henderson is the Founding Director of the Center for Justice Research and professor of Justice Administration in the Barbara Jordan - Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. Howard’s research focuses on culturally-responsive criminal justice programming and predictive bias.

COVID - 19 Impact On Black Communities

At Legal-Ease, law students, lawyers, and journalists united offer you a partisan free discussion on current issues affecting America, without convoluted legalese, a word for fancy lawyer talk.

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