2025 Defending Sex Cases CLE Archive
Product description:
MARCH 14–15, 2025 • Valley River Inn, EugeneTOPICS
Standing Up to Prosecutorial Misconduct
Kali Montague, Chief Deputy Public Defender, OPDC Appellate Division
Kali will guide us through the thrilling and perilous world of prosecutorial misconduct that typically occurs during closing argument, and she’ll highlight key appellate decisions to inform when and how to object to the state’s theatrics. She’ll cover everything from “facts not in evidence” to prosecutors’ time-honored impulse to vouch for victims and other state witnesses. She’ll explain how to turn the DDA’s mistakes that result in victories at trial into reversals on appeal. It's a presentation that should not be missed!
Keeping Out Child Abuse Hearsay
Ryan Scott, Portland
In sex cases, the child abuse hearsay exception has been the state's excuse for offering not just the initial disclosure and the forensic interview, but also the complaining witness's grand jury and prior trial testimony. What are the arguments for drawing a line? Can you use these arguments for keeping out the forensic interview? What is the unfair prejudice when the jury hears the same story six or seven times? And most of all, what is the one thing you should always do, something which is both incredibly easy and painfully difficult? Of course, since this is a Ryan presentation, you know it will stray to other relevant topics, including getting the court to admit examples of your client's good character and the best way to limit the detective's statements during the interrogation of your client.
Ethical Obligations When Your Former Client Seeks PCR | ethics credit
Jason Weber, Portland
Unfortunately, representing clients charged with serious sex offenses means that it is only a matter of time before a post-conviction claim is brought against you. That is because these cases often result in long sentences and the longer the sentence the more likely a post-conviction petition will be filed. This presentation will help prepare you for that process. Jason will try to answer many common questions that arise like: Can I turn over my client’s entire file to the Oregon Department of Justice (DOJ) when a client files a post-conviction claim against me? Has my client waived privilege in whole or in part by filing a petition? Should I speak with my client’s post-conviction counsel about what happened? Should I sign a declaration prepared for me by DOJ? Does DOJ represent my interests?
Litigating a Motion to Sever: Fighting Back Against Improper Joinder
Sara Werboff, OPDC Appellate Division
Is it even possible to sever charges in sex cases? Maybe! While the Oregon Supreme Court ponders the substantive standard for severance, this presentation will give you ideas to make the best possible record to get the benefit of any good decision. Specifically, this presentation will address when and how to challenge joinder, when to move to sever, how to make your record pretrial, during trial, or after trial, and how to address jury instructions.
Memory Contamination: How to Spot It in Child Sex Cases, and More
Cara Laney, PhD, Professor Psychology, College of Idaho
Cara Laney is a memory expert and psychology professor who will discuss the reconstructive nature of memory, as well as a variety of red flags for spotting possible memory contamination, including problematic forensic interview techniques, therapeutic practices, coaching, and memory contagion.
Making the Most of Your Memory Expert
Kelsey Jones, Portland
This presentation will focus on the benefits of pre-trial and trial use of memory experts in all kinds of criminal cases, but with a focus on child-sex cases. We will discuss how a memory expert can help advance your defense theory, the benefits of using an expert for consultation versus trial testimony, and how to anticipate DA objections and areas of cross-examination.
Scruting the Inscrutable: How to avoid being sliced by the cutting edge of Prior Acts Evidence law
David Ferry, OPDC Appellate Division, Salem
Successfully defending a sex crimes case may depend on exclusion of highly prejudicial evidence and allegations of your client’s prior misconduct. But the law covering the admissibility of such evidence appears to shift with every appellate case issued. This presentation is designed not only to bring you up to date on the current state of prior acts evidence law, but also to give you some educated guesses about where it might be going in hopes of arming you with the best arguments for keeping it out.