Meet Erica Nichols Cook, former Public Defender and Director of Iowa's Wrongful Conviction Unit. Listen as she explains what public defenders do and how public defenders are appointed. Erica highlights the importance of communication and how a public defender advocates for their client.

Erica Nichols Cook is the Director of the Iowa Wrongful Convictions Division and supervises the Drake University Wrongful Convictions Clinic. Nichols Cook previously served as an adjunct professor of law at Southern Illinois University, teaching about wrongful convictions and supervising an externship program with the Illinois Innocence Project. Prior to that, she was an assistant appellate defender, Cook County public defender, and a staff attorney with the Illinois Innocence Project.

Credits:

Host: Kristine Bunch, Indiana exoneree and Outreach Coordinator for Interrogating Justice and How to Justice

Producer: Tammy Alexander, creator and co-host of the Snow Files Podcast

Announcer: Eric Brenner, actor and voice over artist

How to Justice is a non-profit group that seeks to raise up justice-impacted people. Its goal? Provide easy-to-read answers to your questions about your rights before, during and after prison.

Interrogating Justice is a nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank. Our team of attorneys, advocates and allies take on some of the biggest legal, social and ethical justice-reform issues today. Our goal is simple: help shed light on the obstacles preventing our justice system from being just.

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