Written by: Blake Etringer

The Clarence Darrow/David Baldus Death Penalty College returned to the University of Iowa College of Law to host its annual training program for capital defense attorneys, capital investigators, mitigation specialists, and law students.

Participants spend the week working on their own pending cases while learning from some of the nation's most respected capital defense trainers. Each day brings various learning activities, including small-group discussions, lectures, and strategy demonstrations focused on both the guilt/innocence and penalty phases of capital cases.

For practicing attorneys and mitigation specialists like Mary Kay Poirier, a mitigation specialist based in Kansas City, the training provides practical tools and opportunities for collaboration.

“The ‘Art of Negotiation’ plenary demonstrated the need for a collaborative negotiation process that includes mitigation specialists as key members of the defense team,” she said. “Their insights can provide essential mitigating evidence that strengthens plea negotiations, sentencing advocacy, and overall case strategy in death penalty cases.”

The program also featured specialized training on intellectual disability in capital cases through the conference’s Intellectual Disability Track, which focuses on ensuring clients with intellectual disabilities are properly identified, understood, and represented. Participants learned about common intellectual disability misconceptions and strategies for ethical client advocacy.

Many participants, including Payam Fakharara, a public defender from San Diego, found the Intellectual Disability training especially informative and useful for their practices going forward.

“I learned so much about the common misconceptions of intellectual disabilities,” he said. “Going forward, I plan to widen the scope of what I consider while working with clients, like the impact of neurotoxins and other environmental factors.”

Juliet Yackel, an attorney and capital mitigation specialist who founded the Intellectual Disability conference that merged with the Darrow/Baldus program five years ago, said she was encouraged by the next generation of advocates participating in the training.

“I learned there is hope for the future of public defense,” she said. “This week I met a group of talented young professionals ready to serve the next generation of clients.”

A recurring theme among student participants was the importance of understanding the person behind the case. For Iowa Law 3L Cathleen Manivong, one of the program’s most significant lessons was learning to shift the focus from “what” to “who.”

“Rather than centering conversations solely on the crime, legal issues, or available defenses, it is equally important to understand the individual behind the case—their childhood experiences, personal history, and the trauma that has shaped their life,” she said.

2L Megan Soria said the program strengthened her commitment to becoming a public defender.

“Seeing attorneys who have a lot of empathy for their clients and wanting to get the best result for them has inspired me to want to be a fearless advocate,” she said.

The program, organized annually by Professor Emily Hughes, is held in honor of the late Professor David Baldus, whose groundbreaking capital punishment research significantly impacted the death penalty defense community and the legal profession as a whole. Through hands-on training, interdisciplinary collaboration, and a commitment to understanding every client's story, the Darrow/Baldus College continues to advance excellence in capital defense representation nationwide.