Join us in July for Amicus' three-part webinar series "Amicus, the US Death Penalty & Volunteer Placements":

July 14th, 2020 @ 6pm - Ep 1: An introduction to the death penalty and US legal system

July 21st, 2020 @ 6pm - Ep 2: Issues in the US Death Penalty

July 28th, 2020 @ 6pm - Ep. 3: Volunteer placements

Please support this webinar series by providing a small £5 donation to Amicus to help us spread awareness of the US capital punishment system and help us bring justice to death row: please leave your name and email in order to receive the Zoom link or email us at admin@amicus-alj.org to ensure we have you on our attendee list.

COURSE OUTLINE

In these three webinars we will explain how the death penalty system operates in the US, and discuss some of the key legal decisions of the past 20 years or so. We will consider issues such as mental illness, intellectual disability, race, poverty, inadequate legal representation and the way that the death penalty remains arbitrary in who is selected for capital trial and the death penalty. In the final episode we will discuss how you can get involved particularly through undertaking a volunteer placement working with lawyers helping those on death row as well as others way to support the work Amicus does.

SPEAKERS AND PANELISTS

Mark George QC: Mark George QC is a criminal defence barrister at Garden Court North who has been involved with Amicus for more than twenty years. He first worked in Texas in 1998 and again in 2017. He is a trustee of Amicus and regularly speaks at the twice-yearly Amicus training on trial procedure and appeals in capital cases in both state and federal court. When available he also presents talks to university and law college students. Mark has written extensively on aspects of the US death penalty for the Amicus Journal. A number of these articles are available free on the Amicus website.

Madeleine Steele: Maddie is currently undertaking pupillage in Bristol. She previously represented clients before the First-Tier Mental Health Tribunal and has a particular interest in mental health within the criminal justice system. Maddie was an intern in Oklahoma for 3 months. During her time there she worked on a number of capital murder cases. She assisted the attorneys in court with jury selection and witness handling for the duration of a capital trial. Maddie drafted a motion to bar the use of the death penalty on those suffering from severe mental illness. She also testified for the defence, at a capital competency hearing, as to the mental capacity of the client to stand trial.

Georgia Richardson: Georgia is a former intern placed with Arizona Capital Representation Project. She worked on pre- and post-conviction matters, and returns annually to assist in a national capital defence training conference at Santa Clara University. Georgia is commencing pupillage in 2021.

Peter Wilson: Pete is a former intern placed with Arizona Capital Representation Project. He worked on pre and post conviction matters, and returns annually to assist in a national capital defence training conference at Santa Clara University. Pete is a barrister at 7 Harrington St Chambers, Liverpool.