The Clarence Darrow/David Baldus Death Penalty College & Intellectual Disability Track

June 4-8, 2024.  Starting at 1 pm on the 4th and ending at noon on the 8th.

Pricing before April 1, 2024   $950 NAPD Members, $1050 Non Members

Pricing April 2 and beyond  $1150 NAPD Members, $1300 Non Members

Need help with this registration process?  Watch this video.  

Scholarship Application – Due April 15 

Current Draft of the Agenda

Room Block at Hyatt Place Iowa City Downtown/University Hotel $107 plus taxes and fees / May 3 deadline

Link to reserve hotel room. Phone Reservations:  call the Central Reservations Office at: 1-800-233-1234 and reference the NAPD 2024 Conference or Group Code: G-FNAG

Need help with this registration process?  Watch this video.  

Participants spend the week working on their own pending cases as well as learning from some of the most prestigious capital defense trainers in the country. Each day, participants engage in various learning activities, including small group sessions, lectures, role playing, and strategy demonstrations for guilt/innocence and penalty phases.  Solo practitioners without an active case are welcome to attend.

Small group sessions are designed to provide constructive feedback and encouragement while also brainstorming the case and doing actual case preparation for the capital trial. These sessions are followed by lectures and demonstrations for smaller groups or plenary sessions for all participants. Evenings are primarily unscheduled, allowing participants to explore all that Iowa City has to offer.

The program is held in honor of the late Professor David Baldus, whose thorough, groundbreaking capital punishment research significantly impacted the death penalty defense community and legal community as a whole. Professor Baldus is best known for “the Baldus study,” cited by the United States Supreme Court in McCleskey v. Kemp, although his research extends far beyond.

Intensive Intellectual Disability Track 

Intellectual disability is an absolute bar to the death penalty, making this a necessary area of investigation in every capital case. There are no exceptions.

This intensive training introduces participants to the nuances of investigating and litigating intellectual disability claims and features strategies for overcoming common barriers to identifying and effectively presenting evidence of ID.  This course is geared towards intermediate and experienced capital practitioners. Beginners are welcome to attend, but the material is advanced.

It is our mission to ensure that no one with intellectual disability is ever executed. We are dedicated to equipping all members of the defense team with the tools needed to discover, investigate, and effectively litigate intellectual disability.

Intellectual disability can be difficult to detect.  Often, clients go to great lengths to hide their disability due to shame and embarrassment, even when it can save their life. Unlike common stereotypes, those with intellectual disability cannot be identified based on their appearance or superficial interactions. Clients may appear “normal” in the context of school, work, family or when we first encounter them as the defendant in a capital prosecution. Education is crucial to overcome these stereotypes.

This training will offer the most up-to-date legal and scientific information concerning ID and provide hands-on opportunities to practice skills needed to screen effectively for ID. Students will learn how to work with mental-health experts and how to develop and provide the detailed life-history information needed for an effective evaluation. Instructors will include psychologists, lawyers, and mitigation specialists who are experts on the subject.

Comments from past participants –

Without question this was the best conference / educational trainings I have ever attended. The quality of the experts and the access that we had to them was unprecedented in my experience. The small group sessions were so helpful. I also love that this is not designed to be a one and done event. The opportunity to return and continue to work on cases is really helpful.

The ID conference played a major role in my ability to formulate a compelling, fact based motion as to my client’s ID issues and adaptive functioning deficits. It was also beneficial to be able to explain the various IQ tests, how they work, what they test for and how the Flynn Effect impacts standardized testing. I was able to compare and contrast those issues with the State and reach and the outcome of death being taken off the table.

OUTSTANDING! Lifechanging information and access to experts

I have been to many Capital trainings. this one has been one of the best for getting useful information relevant and applicable to our cases.

These were, by far, the most professional, relevant and motivating training sessions I have ever been a part of. My practice has already improved greatly, and I feel that I have tools I need as I transition into a capital practice.

Great location. I loved the student hosts. I felt this training was for people serious about the work and not just interested in traveling to a conference. Great opportunity to hear from experts and to gain insight from more experienced lawyers.

This was an INCREDIBLE conference. Every expert, attorney speaker, leader of our small groups, etc. brought so much knowledge, insight, and experience. It was packed with content–I filled up an entire notebook and sent daily emails reporting back to the team I was working on with information and to-dos immediately applicable to cases.

NAPD Events and Cancellation Policy

By registering for this training, I am affirming that today I am neither a prosecutor, nor attending this training  with the purpose of aiding the prosecution of any criminally accused.   I further affirm that I  am dedicated to the ideals of the criminal defense practitioner, and am committed to the causes of effective and zealous defense of those charged with crimes, the protection and assertion of constitutional rights afforded the criminally accused, and the recognition and preservation of human dignity of those charged with crimes.  I further affirm that my use of the information provided by this training  will not be used by me in any manner which would impugn the above set out ideals.