10th Annual Public Defender
LAS VEGAS RETREAT
"We ARE the Advantage"
April 23-25, 2010

A yearly gathering of public and private criminal defense attorneys, investigators,
legal staff, law students, spouses, or anyone with a Public Defender Attitude.

**MCLE* Speakers for the Las Vegas Retreat**

Public Defender Las Vegas Retreat Speaker

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This information last updated 10/18/09. Watch for further updates.

Click Here for a List of Past Retreat Speakers

Ronald Moore

Ronald Moore
Attorney and Forensic Scientist, Law Offices of Barry T. Simons
Laguna Beach, California

"Defending the DUI Case, Cross Examination of the Prosecution’s Expert"
(1 hour MCLE)

Mr. Moore is an associate at the law firm of Barry T. Simmons in Laguna Beach, California, specializing in DUI defense. He spent over 18 years at the Orange County Sheriff’s Department crime lab, spending almost half that time in the Forensic Alcohol section and ending with 1 1/2 years in charge of that section. He testified in over 450 DUI cases, primarily as the people’s expert. He also worked in the Crime Scene Investigation, Firearms & Toolmarks, and Controlled Substances sections. During his time at the lab, Mr. Moore attended Western State University College of Law, part time, at night. He graduated Valedictorian, Magna Cum Laude, managing editor of the Law Review, and 3 term president of the Criminal Law Association. Mr. Moore has lectured across the United States helping educate lawyers on DUI matters, giving them the inside track on alcohol metabolism; blood, breath, and urine testing; cross examination of the state’s expert; and discovery from the crime lab. He is well known for his both entertaining and informative PowerPoint presentations.

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Peter Keane

Peter Keane
Professor and Dean Emeritus, Golden Gate University School of Law
San Francisco, California

(1st presentation)
"Criminal Law Impact of Recent US Supreme Court Decisions, the Year in Review"
(1 hour MCLE)

(2nd presentation)
"Ethical Concerns and Pitfalls for the Criminal Defense Attorney"
(1 hour Ethics MCLE)

Professor Keane will be presenting two talks, both of which look to be very informative and entertaining. The first will be the year in review addressing current Supreme Court decisions and their affect on criminal law. The second talk will be an examination of the principle ethical concerns of a criminal lawyer. What should you worry about and what are the common problems defense lawyers face. Professor Keane will discuss how these ethical issues come about, what you need to do to anticipate them, and to how to keep them from occurring. He will also address how you deal with them when they do come up.

Professor Keane is Professor of Law and Dean Emeritus at Golden Gate University Law School. He teaches Evidence, Criminal Procedure, Constitutional Law, and Professional Responsibility. He taught at Hastings from 1982 until appointed Dean of Golden Gate in 1998. He also taught at The University of San Francisco Law School.

He is former President of the Bar Association of San Francisco and former Vice-President of the State Bar of California. He was the Chief Assistant Public Defender of San Francisco for 20 years. He was counsel in scores of jury trials, many of them homicide and capital cases. He is certified by the State Bar of California as a Criminal Law Specialist and is former Chairperson of both the Criminal Justice Advisory Commission of the State Bar of California and the Criminal Law Advisory Council of the Bar Association of San Francisco.

He is a frequent legal commentator on local, national, and international media, appearing on CNN, CBS Evening News, ABC Nightly News, NBC News, Good Morning America, Today, Larry King Live, The BBC, Canadian Broadcasting, and Dutch Television. He was the host of two legal topic radio programs: "Keane on the Law" on KPIX Radio from 1995 to 1998 and "Legal Incite" on CNET Radio from 2000 to 2003.

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Colette Tvedt

Colette Tvedt
Attorney, Schroeter Goldmark & Bender
Seattle, Washington

"Defending Child Sexual Assault Cases... Cross Examination of Child Sexual Assault Victims"
(2 hours MCLE)

Colette Tvedt has practiced criminal defense for over 19 years in Massachusetts and Washington, and is currently an associate of the firm of Schroeter Goldmark & Bender in Seattle, Washington.

She is a 1989 graduate of Rutgers School of Law. Prior to moving to Seattle in 2006, Colette worked for the Committee for Public Counsel Services (CPCS), which is the Massachusetts public defenders office, as a staff attorney and member of the training and murder units. She also worked as a Clinical Professor of Law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston. Before joining Schroeter Goldmark & Bender, Colette worked for a year as a felony trial attorney at The Defender Association (TDA), a public defender agency in Seattle. She is a faculty member of the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC) in Macon, Georgia and is a frequent lecturer and moderator at local and national training programs. Colette has been invited to speak in over 20 states and also to participate in the Oxford University Roundtable on International Criminal Justice.

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Steven C. Gabaeff, MD, FAAEM, Diplomat ABEM

Steven C. Gabaeff, MD, FAAEM, Diplomat American Board of Emergency Medicine
Emergency and Clinical Forensic Specialist, Sutter Amador Hospital
Sacramento, California

"Shaken Baby and Other Injuries in Children, a Medical Perspective Towards Assessing and Defending These Cases."
(2 hours MCLE)

Doctor Gabaeff is a Board Certified Emergency Medicine Specialist who has been active in clinical medicine, health care informatics, health care system planning, managed care, and forensic medicine for the past 30 years. He graduated from UCLA Medical School in 1975. He has been in practice for 33 years and his current practice is clinical forensic medicine and as an emergency physician at Sutter Amador Hospital in Jackson, California. He is an expert consultant for the Central Complaint Unit of the Medical Board of California and has published in the areas of child abuse and child sexual assault. He is on the Editorial Board of the Western Journal of Emergency Medicine (WestJEM) and reviewer for Child Maltreatment and WestJEM. He is a noted expert and has consulted in over 1300 legal cases over the last 23 years.

Doctor Gabaeff will be speaking on medical findings frequently misdiagnosed as the so called shaken baby syndrome and the issues that need to be understood in defending innocent caregivers from false accusations of child abuse by shaking. Biomechanical and anatomical information will be presented to help attorneys understand the flaws that persist in the misdiagnosis and prosecution of shaken baby cases and new information about birth trauma and its impact on this misdiagnosis. This looks to be a tremendous presentation.

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Saul Huerta and Deirdre M. Mokos

Saul Huerta and Deirdre M. Mokos
Assistant Federal Defenders
Tucson, Arizona

"Immigration Consequences of Criminal Convictions: What Attorneys Can Do to Avoid Them"
(1 hour MCLE)

Saul and Deirdre have been Federal Defenders in Arizona for many years along with extensive experience with immigration issues. This presentation will provide attorneys with basic information that a defense attorney needs in representing aliens*, who, unlike United States citizens, may suffer additional restraints on their liberty based on the fact that they are not United States citizens. Also, this is an area where ineffective assistance claims have been and are widely made.

* The term “alien” is used because that is the legal term used in federal immigration law to indicate a person who is not a United States citizen.

This is especially important since, unlike criminal defendants facing possible incarceration, aliens are not entitled to free attorney representation in immigration proceedings if they are indigent. This creates more of a need for defense attorneys to properly prepare their cases prior to potential immigration proceedings where the client will very likely be unrepresented

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Nicholas G. Himonidis, JD, CCFS, CFE

Nicholas G. Himonidis, JD, CCFS, CFE
Founder and President, The NGH Group, Investigations
Roslyn Heights, New York

"Computer Digital Evidence, What It Is? ... Where to Find It? ... How to Use It?"
(2 hour MCLE)

This talk will help us identify when we have computer evidence issues in our cases. Nick will show how to both use it in our defense, as well as address it if the prosecution is using it.

Nicholas Himonidis, is the founder and president of The NGH Group, which provides computer forensic, private investigation, and security consulting services through his licensed companies in New York and Florida. Mr. Himonidis is a Certified Fraud Examiner (the only professional designation formally recognized by the FBI as encompassing a critical skill set for investigators) and is a Certified Computer Forensic Specialist. He also holds a Juris Doctorate, Magna Cum Laude, from St. John's University School of Law. The NGH Group also provides traditional investigative services including surveillance and accident scene investigations, but focuses on high tech investigation and forensic consulting services.

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* The Tulare County Public Defender certifies that this activity has been approved for
MCLE credit by the State Bar of California in the amount of 10 hours with 1 of the hours in ethics.
Tulare County Public Defender is a State Bar of California MCLE approved provider.

We routinely get CLE pre-approval in a number of states, and I will assist any attendee with
CLE credit in their jurisdictions. Contact Dave Rendahl at 1-559-636-4500 or Email for
MCLE / CLE info on your state or jurisdiction (no state has ever denied credit for prior Retreats).

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