You gotta stop trying to reinvent the wheel

He obviously thought the comment had something to do with why I was in so much trouble but it only got me thinking about the summer the wheels came off my chuck wagon.

It was the summer when Sue Ann finally let loose on the lady from the peanut shop and there was no catching hold of what came oozing out after. Sue Ann had come alone and brought us beautiful music while oiling her strong wooden bow by the edge of the woods. She was our mystic craftsman and us all thinking it was the advent of a nice new time and not scene one of a scary two-scene bit. Turned out Sue Ann was never an artist but an archer and I screamed

Turned out Sue Ann was never an artist but an archer and I screamed liar liar as we all froze when the music stopped and my heart sank down and down like a stone that’ll never hit bottom. Strangest part now is that even though Sue Ann never was playin’ any music I’ve been hungry ever since. Kerplunk.

The sixth in a series of international lectures by Alexandria Virginia  criminal defense attorneys, organizer Chris Leibig, along with Joni Robin, Cary Citronberg, Andrea Moseley and Ellen Shultz traveled to Aarhus, Denmark to hold a penal discussion with students and professors on April 13, 2016.

The group, most of whom are former public defenders whose practices focus on the defense of serious criminal cases in Virginia, spoke on the death penalty, police shootings, and Donald Trump’s immigration policies.

Organizer Chris Leibig introduced the group and spoke about general trends in American criminal defense.

Joni Robin, a former pubic defender who now has her own law firm, spoke methods of execution in The US, including the electric chair and lethal injection – and Virgina’s attempt to cerate secret protocols for executions so the public cano0t learn exactly how death row inmates are being killed.

Andrea Moseley discussed police shootings and a recent suit she and her partner won against a Virginia police department.

Ellen Shultz, who is not a lawyer but an experienced investigator who works at the Federal Public Defenders Office in Alexandria, spoke about the investigation necessary to defend someone who faces a death sentence

Cary Citronberg compared Denmark’s recent public reaction against immigration into the country with Donald Trump’s anti-immigrant policies. Some in the crowd did not enjoy the comparison.

“Denmark has a low rate of incarceration and its justice system, unlike the one in America, focuses first on rehabilitation. The result is they have less than half of the US recidivism rate,” Chris Leibig told a local reporter upon the group’s return.

The group, in various combinations, has previously been to Scotland, Ireland, Jamaica, Trinidad and the Bahamas for similar programs. They have been invited to a school in Berlin and Geneva this fall.

Read more about attorney Christopher Leibig and his upcoming release, Almost Mortal, HERE!