Criminal Law and Policy News and Events for the University of Arizona Community

November 30. Panel Discussion - Operation Streamline

Hello PCLP-ers!

For the last event of the semester, we have gathered an experienced panel of practitioners to discuss Operation Streamline and reflect on its strengths and weaknesses since its inception more than ten years ago and its expansion to Tucson almost nine years ago. 

Please join us tomorrow in Room 168 at noon for this exciting presentation (Please try to arrive promptly. We may start earlier than 12:15 to accommodate our panelists' schedules), and as always, pizza will be served. 

Biographies of participants:

Judge Bernardo Velasco: 

Judge Velasco graduated from the University of Arizona Law school in 1974 and began his career first as a legal aid lawyer, and then as an assistant federal public defender. In 1985, he was appointed to the Pima County Superior Court and spent fifteen years on that bench. In 2000, he moved down the street and was appointed as a federal magistrate in the U.S. District Court, where he has served since. As a federal magistrate, Judge Velasco presides over the initial stages of federal criminal cases, and can also preside over misdemeanor trials and civil trials, with the parties' consent. 

Erendira "Yendi" Castillo, Defense Attorney:

Ms. Castillo immigrated to the United States from Mexico with her mother and siblings when she was six years old. She grew up in Wisconsin and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She received her JD from the University of Arizona and became a naturalized citizen in 1995. She worked at both the Pima County Public Defender's Office and the Federal Public Defender's Office before starting her own solo practice in criminal defense.

Liza Granoff, Assistant United States Attorney: 

Ms. Granoff graduated in 1998 from the University of New Hampshire School of Law and began her career as a prosecutor at the State's Attorney's Office in Miami-Dade County, Florida, working her way up from misdemeanors, to juveniles, to specialized felony units, including the Sexual Battery/Child Abuse unit and Career Criminal/Robbery Unit. Ms. Granoff joined the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tucson in 2006, where she focused on immigration prosecutions. In 2007, she and her family returned back to Miami, where she worked for the Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office of the Chief Counsel as a trial attorney doing removal hearings. She moved back to Tucson in 2008 and rejoined the U.S. Attorney's Office. She has since prosecuted a wide variety of federal offenses, including complex drug investigations. In 2011, she became a deputy criminal chief, and she currently supervises one of the General Crimes Units, as well as overseeing the immigration area. 

**CLE Events**

The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement.  This activity may qualify for up to 1.​0​ hours toward your annual CLE requirement for the State Bar of Arizona. Download CLE Certificate 11.30

No PCLP speaker this week (Nov. 23, 2016).

Hello PCLP-ers!

There will be no speaker this week but please join us next week on November 30 for a panel presentation discussing Operation Streamline.

Happy Thanksgiving!

November 16. Rosalind R. Greene - Jury Selection

Please join PCLP Wednesday, November 16^th from noon to 1:15 in room 156 for a presentation on jury selection. Rosalind R. Greene from Advanced Jury Research Consulting is a U of A Law alumnus who practiced for eight years with Snell & Wilmer in their general litigation department with an emphasis on products liability. She also worked extensively in mediation as a Judge Pro Tempore Settlement Master, and as a mediator with JAMS / ENDISPUTE, U.S. Arbitration & Mediation, and the Arizona Attorney General's Office.

As always pizza will be served, we hope to see you there!

**CLE Events**

The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement.  This activity may qualify for up to 1.​0​ hours toward your annual CLE requirement for the State Bar of Arizona. Download CLE Certificate 11.16

Wednesday November 9 - Capt. Sean Stewart: Tablets for Inmates and Technology in the Jail

Hello PCLP-ers!

Next week, on Wednesday, November 9, please join us for a presentation from Captain Sean Stewart of the Pima County Jail, titled "Tablets for Inmates and Technology in the Jail." 

We hope to see you in Room 156, and as always, pizza will be served at noon. 

_____________________________________________________________________________

Captain Sean Stewart was hired with the Pima County Sheriff's Department in September 1992.  He was promoted to Sergeant in December 1997 and Captain in June 2006.  In January 1999, Captain Stewart started to formally identify, photograph and track gang members who became incarcerated at the Pima County Adult Detention Center, leading to the creation of the Security Threat Identification Team. (S.T.I.T.)

The Duties performed are: tracking gang activities in the jail system, investigating gang crimes in jail, gathering intelligence on gang members by talking with and interviewing them, talking to the witnesses and victims of gang crimes in jail, and talking to rival gang members.  Often this information leads to gang activities outside the jail system.   

In June 1999, the Security Threat Identification Team merged into the Security Services Section which led to reviewing inmate non-legal/non-privileged mail, the recorded inmate phone system, the video visitation system and video Surveillance System.  The Security Services Section has thwarted plans of escapes, assaults on staff and inmates, importing drugs into the system and the manufacture of weapons.  It also has gathered valuable intelligence information on gang members, which has helped other law enforcement agencies in their criminal investigations. 

Captain Stewart has commanded the Emergency Response Team, Administrative Segregation Housing Unit, Judicial Security, Intake and Identification Unit and the Transportation Unit.  He is currently the Main Jail and Administrative Segregation Commander of the Pima County Adult Detention Center.  

Captain Stewart is qualified as an expert in Pima County Superior Court in the areas of gang related activities, prison politics revolving around prison gangs, inmate communications / jargon and codes and Inmate Phone Systems.

**CLE Events**

"The State Bar of Arizona does not approve or accredit CLE activities for the Mandatory Continuing Legal Education requirement.  This activity may qualify for up to 1.​0​ hours toward your annual CLE requirement for the State Bar of Arizona. Download CLE Certificate 11.9