Overview
Work History
Education
Bar Admissions
Publications
Faculty and Presenter
Timeline
Generic

JESSICA E. SUTTON

6151 N Portsmouth Ave, Boise,ID

Overview

20
20
years of professional experience

Work History

Principal Attorney and Mitigation Specialist

PHILLIPS BLACK
06.2021 - Current
  • Represent death-sentenced clients as appointed counsel in federal habeas corpus and state post- conviction proceedings.
  • Conduct mitigation investigations in capital trial and post-conviction cases, including mental health investigations into intellectual disability, brain damage, trauma, and mood and thought disorders.
  • Provide expert mitigation reports in juvenile life resentencings.
  • Serve as a consulting and testifying expert regarding the standard of care for the mitigation function in death penalty cases.
  • Serve as a consulting expert for the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers on capital trial cases in Oklahoma, Arizona, Idaho, California, Kentucky, and Florida.
  • Serve as a consulting and testifying expert concerning the standard of care for representing women and LGBTQ clients facing the death penalty.
  • Publish scholarship concerning the effective representation of death-sentenced women and LGBTQ individuals.
  • Co-organize trainings for state and federal agencies representing concerning social history investigation, mental health disorders, and representing LGBTQ clients.
  • Present as faculty at national and international conferences on topics including clemency proceedings, mental health disorders, intellectual disability and adaptive behavior, traumatic brain injury and brain damage, and trauma.
  • Spearhead working group for capital defenders representing LGBTQ clients.
  • Awarded the 2021 Muhammad-White Award for excellence in mitigation.

Adjunct Professor

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO COLLEGE OF LAW
01.2021 - 06.2023
  • Teach courses in Post-Conviction Remedies, Death Penalty, and Applied Legal Reasoning.
  • Co-Teach Semester-in-Practice, including supervising students in their clinical practicum.
  • Develop syllabi, course structure, asynchronous and synchronous materials, self-assessments, and formative assessments.
  • Organize programming for diversity, belonging, and inclusion.

Founding Attorney and Mitigation Specialist

JE SUTTON LLC
08.2016 - 06.2021
  • Represented death-sentenced and death-eligible clients in both federal and state trial, state post- conviction, federal habeas corpus proceedings, and clemency.
  • Drafted motions, briefs, affidavits, and related documents, including pre-trial motions, motions for state post-conviction relief, and federal habeas corpus petitions.
  • Interviewed social history witnesses and collected voluminous records to develop multigenerational life history narratives.
  • Prepared witnesses for trial and evidentiary hearings.
  • Developed competency and Atkins claims for evidentiary hearings resulting in grants of relief.
  • Served as faculty at national capital defense trainings and presented webinar trainings on Litigating COVID-19 Issues in Capital Cases.
  • Served on the COVID Capital Trials Working Group, the COVID Capital Habeas Working Group, and the COVID Mitigation Working Group.
  • Consulted on the development of motions and declarations concerning capital representation and COVID in collaboration with the ACLU and the ABA Death Penalty Representation Project.
  • Co-authored guidelines for mitigation investigation during the COVID pandemic in collaboration with the federal National Mitigation Coordinator.
  • Mentored and train new mitigation specialists in collaboration with the ACLU's Scharlette Holdman Mitigation Mentorship Program.

Instructor

TUFTS UNIVERSITY, EXPERIMENTAL COLLEGE
01.2021 - 05.2021
  • Taught the course Mass Incarceration: Reform, Abolition, or Status Quo?
  • Examined mass incarceration through the lenses of race, gender, ability, age, class, and extreme punishment.
  • Assisted students in developing a final paper examining an issue of the carceral state.

Senior Mitigation Specialist

ADVANCING REAL CHANGE, INC
07.2015 - 07.2016
  • Conducted mitigation investigations for state and federal capital cases at all stages of proceedings, from pre-trial to clemency proceedings.
  • Provided expert consultation services to capital trial teams at public defender agencies and private law firms in California in collaboration with the ACLU Capital Punishment Project and the 8th Amendment Project.
  • Co-organized trainings in Arizona and California concerning the role of mitigation investigation in capital defense representation.
  • Supervised and trained junior mitigation specialists.

Staff Attorney and Mitigation Specialist

DEATH PENALTY LITIGATION CLINIC
08.2010 - 10.2015
  • Represented death-sentenced prisoners in all aspects of post-conviction litigation, including federal habeas corpus proceedings and related civil litigation such as lethal injection litigation and Section 1983 lawsuits.
  • Provided expert consultation to Missouri attorneys representing death-sentenced clients under execution warrant.
  • Conducted mitigation investigations for state and federal defender agencies across the country.
  • Supervised death penalty and innocence project clinical students at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law.

Law Clerk

CHITTENDEN SUPERIOR COURT
09.2009 - 08.2010
  • Drafted opinions and memoranda on pre-trial and trial issues in civil cases
  • Researched constitutional issues presented in petitions for post-conviction relief

Co-Founder and Student Attorney

MASSACHUSETTS TRANSGENDER LEGAL ADVOCATES
11.2007 - 05.2009
  • Co-founded a legal clinic to serve indigent transgender communities.
  • Collaborated with the South Bay House of Corrections administration to reform policies pertaining to transgender prisoners.
  • Represented gender diverse clients in obtaining name changes, gender-affirming health care, housing, employment and social security benefits.

French Translator

HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
04.2005 - 05.2005
  • Translated an educational guidebook on medical ethics from English to French.

Fellow

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND LABOR BUREAU
05.2004 - 08.2004
  • Produced presentations highlighting local culture for use by the Hong Kong Tourism Commission
  • Created an international marketing plan for the new Hong Kong Wetland Park

Education

Juris Doctor -

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
Boston, MA
05.2009

Bachelor of Arts - International Relations; Economics

Tufts University
Medford, MA
02.2006

Bar Admissions

  • Massachusetts
  • Missouri
  • Arizona

Publications

  • Jessica Sutton, John Mills, Jennifer Merrigan, and Kristin Swain, Death by Dehumanization: Prosecutorial Narratives of Death-Sentenced Women and LGBTQ Prisoners, 95 St. John's L. Rev. 1053 (2021).
  • Cornell Center on the Death Penalty Worldwide, Defending Women and Transgender Prisoners Facing Extreme Sentences: A Practical Guide (Oct. 7, 2021).
  • No Room for Redemption: Clemency in Missouri, Syracuse Journal of Law & Civic Engagement

Faculty and Presenter

  • Podcast, Death Penalty Information Center, Representing Death-Sentenced Women and LGBTQ Prisoners (upcoming June 2024)
  • Darrell Bolz Defense College, Capital Trial Skills, May 20-24, 2024
  • Federal Defender Capital Habeas Unit (CHU) National Conference 2024, Denver, CO - April 8-10, 2024 - Presentation: Representing Transgender Clients; Representing Women
  • NAPD, Rise, Resist, Represent Conference, Virtual - March 14, 2024 - Presentation: Representing Death-Sentenced Women and LGBTQ Folks: Reflections on Countering Dehumanizing Prosecutorial Narratives
  • NACDL, CCLI Bring Your Own Case Conference, Boise, Idaho - March 13-15, 2024 - Presentation: Interviewing & Building Rapport with Traumatized People
  • Federal Defender Services of Idaho Training, Boise, Idaho - September 14, 2023 - Presentation: Mitigation Investigation and Working with Experts
  • 2023 Bryan R. Schechmeister Death Penalty College, Santa Clara, CA - July 28 - August 1, 2023 - Presentation: Mitigation Investigation 101
  • NAACP Legal Defense Fund 41st Annual Capital Airlie Conference, Warrenton, VA - July 13-16, 2023 - Presentation: Death By Dehumanization
  • Arizona Death Penalty Conference, Phoenix, AZ - June 8, 2023 - Presentation: Mitigation Investigation and Mental Health Disorders
  • Harris County Public Defender Office, Houston, TX - June 8, 2023 - Presentation: Humanizing Our Clients
  • 2022 CCLI Bring Your Own Case Training Program, Phoenix, AZ - November 17-19, 2022 - Expert case consultant
  • 45th Annual Capital Case Defense Seminar, Monterey, CA - February 2022 - Presentation: Representing Transgender Clients
  • National Habeas Assistance and Training Project: Mitigation 101 Training, Virtual - January 27, 2022 - Presentation: Representing LGBTQ Clients
  • Shaikh Ahmad Hassan School of Law, Lahore, Pakistan, Virtual - January 25, 2022 - Presentation: Criminal Defense and Investigation
  • Convening: Building the Movement for Healing Decarceration, Virtual - November 12, 2021 - Panelist: Approaches to Elevate the Dual Victim/Perpetrator Reality
  • St. John's University School of Law, Law Review Symposium, Virtual - October 8, 2021 - Panelist: Death by Dehumanization: Prosecutorial Narratives of Death-Sentenced Women and LGBTQ Prisoners
  • 8th Applied Legal Storytelling Conference, Virtual - July 2021 - Presentation: The Stories of Lawyers: Bridging Divides Through Narrative
  • Makwanyane Institute Audiovisual Library, Virtual - June 2021 - Video: Introduction to Mitigation
  • Non-Capital Sentencing Mitigation Skills Workshop, Defender Services Office, Virtual - June 2021 - Mitigation consulting
  • National Seminar on the Development and Presentation of Mitigating Evidence in Capital Cases 2021, Virtual - May 6, 2021 - Presentation: Gender, Sexuality and Mitigation
  • Incarceration Reduction Amendment Act, Public Defender Services of the District of Columbia, Virtual - May 2021 - Presentation: Developing Mitigating Narratives
  • Cornell Law School, International Human Rights Clinic, Virtual - April 2021 - Presentation: Incarcerated Transgender and Non-Binary Clients
  • Advancing Real Change Mitigation Training, Virtual - April 2021 - Presentation: Representing Trans and Non-Binary Clients
  • Capital Mitigation Skills Workshop, Kansas City, MO - May 17-20, 2018 - Presentation: Investigating Brain Dysfunction and Cognitive Disorders
  • Atlantic Center for Capital Representation: Bring Your Own Case, Philadelphia, PA - December 15-17, 2016 - Presentation: Trauma, Mental Health Issues, and Working with Experts
  • Michigan State Appellate Defender Office: Developing Persuasive Mitigation in Juvenile Lifer Cases, Auburn Hills, MI - December 8-9, 2016 - Presentations: Records Review; Witness Interviews
  • 2016 Federal Death Penalty Strategy Session, Denver, CO - November 17-19, 2016 - Presentation: Using Social Media in Investigation
  • American Civil Liberties Union, Advancing Real Change: Mitigation Boot Camp, Claremont, CA - June 28-29, 2016 - Presentation: Mitigation Toolkit
  • Juvenile Life Without Parole Training, Philadelphia, PA - April 8-9, 2016 - Mitigation Investigation
  • Arizona Capital Representation Project: Bring Your Own Case Training, Scottsdale, AZ - March 31 - April 1, 2016 - Presentation: What Must Be Done In Every Case – Communicating with Real People
  • Atlantic Center for Capital Representation: Bring Your Own Case Training , Philadelphia, PA - December 20-12, 2015 - Presentation: Developing Mitigation Themes and Theories
  • Gulf Region Advocacy Center: Bring Your Own Case Training, St. Louis, MO - August 15-17, 2015 - Presentation: Multigenerational Investigation
  • Eleventh National Seminar on the Development and Integration of Mitigation Evidence in Capital Cases, Philadelphia, PA - March 27-30, 2014 - Presentation: Clemency

Timeline

Principal Attorney and Mitigation Specialist

PHILLIPS BLACK
06.2021 - Current

Adjunct Professor

UNIVERSITY OF IDAHO COLLEGE OF LAW
01.2021 - 06.2023

Instructor

TUFTS UNIVERSITY, EXPERIMENTAL COLLEGE
01.2021 - 05.2021

Founding Attorney and Mitigation Specialist

JE SUTTON LLC
08.2016 - 06.2021

Senior Mitigation Specialist

ADVANCING REAL CHANGE, INC
07.2015 - 07.2016

Staff Attorney and Mitigation Specialist

DEATH PENALTY LITIGATION CLINIC
08.2010 - 10.2015

Law Clerk

CHITTENDEN SUPERIOR COURT
09.2009 - 08.2010

Co-Founder and Student Attorney

MASSACHUSETTS TRANSGENDER LEGAL ADVOCATES
11.2007 - 05.2009

French Translator

HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH
04.2005 - 05.2005

Fellow

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND LABOR BUREAU
05.2004 - 08.2004

Juris Doctor -

BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW

Bachelor of Arts - International Relations; Economics

Tufts University

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JESSICA E. SUTTON