Steve Freedman

CDPL is happy to announce that Steve Freedman is the winner of the 2021 J. Kirk Osborn Award for outstanding leadership in capital defense. This year, after a long year of separation, we are thrilled to once again gather in person to celebrate Steve and enjoy fellowship with our community. The ceremony honoring Steve will be Sept. 23, from 6:30 to 9 p.m. at Parizade in Durham. Register here.

Steve recently retired from the N.C. Office of the Capital Defender. All told, he spent 30 years as a public defender and worked several years as a staff attorney at CDPL. Steve has taken on the most difficult capital cases and persuaded juries to spare his clients’ lives. To cite just one example, in 2007, Steve represented Sam Cooper, who was accused in a Wake County crime spree that left five people dead. After a month-long trial in which Steve and his team presented compelling evidence of post-traumatic stress disorder that resulted from horrendous childhood abuse, the jury voted for five life sentences instead of death. And Steve’s career is far from over. Despite his retirement, he recently agreed to take a Richmond County capital case, and he continues to assist on the case of a former client charged with killing four prison guards in Pasquotank County.

To understand why we chose Steve for this honor, read this nomination letter from fellow capital defender Robert Singagliese:

The epitome of leading by example

Over the course of his career, Steve has done more for poor people charged with capital murder than most any attorney in the state.

Steve has been an excellent advocate at the trial level for his entire career for poor people charged with serious felonies. He has been a public defender in Columbus, OH; Cumberland County, NC; Orange County, NC; and the Eastern District of NC in the federal system. He also spent a number of years at CDPL. Finally, he has spent about 15 years at the Office of the Capital Defender in Durham, where we worked together. He has tried eight capital trials, only one of which resulted in a death sentence. While not a very vocal member of the bar, I believe Steve is the epitome of leading by example.

In my four and a half years at OCD, I have had the incredible opportunity to work with Steve on three capital cases. (We also tried a non-capital case together that thrillingly resulted in an acquittal.) His care for his clients is obvious. In his earliest meetings with his clients, he lets them know that our job is going to be to learn everything we can about them, so that by the time a case has reached its conclusion we know more about our clients than they do. That is a fine explanation of mitigation work. That introduction also lets our clients know from the beginning that the case is not about the lawyers, and it’s not about the crime. Our work is about them.

The last of the three capital cases I mentioned ended just recently. In that case, our client cared less about his life than we did. (Indeed, he told the judge at his sentencing hearing that he was dissatisfied with his lawyers because we delayed the case and prevented him from getting the death penalty.) While capital trial work is always demanding and frustrating, it was even harder with a client who refused to cooperate with his defense team. Yet, Steve didn’t give up, and with some creative litigation and a lot of patience, we were able to maneuver the case into a posture that allowed it to be resolved without a capital trial.

As for teamwork, it’s obvious that Steve is the “first chair” in essentially any setting in which he finds himself. Yet he doesn’t make the other members of his team feel that way. He encourages participation from fellow attorneys, investigators, and experts. I’ve also seen him switch his own gears and focus based on the input of others, a sign that he’s not just being polite about a team approach. He sincerely appreciates that every member of the team has something to contribute.

I have also watched Steve work with several junior members of the capital defense community, including myself. I owe much of what I have learned since joining this office to Steve. I have no doubt that other lawyers have had a similar experience.

Finally, a short anecdote. Two years ago, Steve tried a non-capital murder case in Durham. The State never made a plea offer, and the facts were not good for Steve’s client. Steve’s defense brought forward evidence of legitimate mental health issues, including intellectual disability, Bipolar disorder, and intoxication. Before sitting down at the end of his closing argument, knowing that the State would have last argument, Steve choked up a bit and asked the members of the jury for someone to be his client’s advocate in the jury room. He asked for someone to stand up for D’Marlo, because Steve wasn’t going to be allowed to stand up again. It was clear how much Steve cared about his client. What more could a client ask for?

The J. Kirk Osborn Award

J. Kirk Osborn

J. Kirk Osborn was one of the giants of the capital defense community. Kirk defended more than a dozen capital cases and never had a client sentenced to death. His advocacy and deep compassion for his clients saved many lives, and inspired other attorneys to follow in his footsteps. Each year, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation honors Kirk’s legacy by presenting the J. Kirk Osborn Award for lifelong zealous advocacy, compassion for indigent men and women facing the death penalty, and leadership among capital defense attorneys.

On Sept. 26, we celebrated the achievements of Etta Blankenship and Bob Trenkle, two stars of the North Carolina capital defense community. Thanks to photographer Emily Baxter for capturing a beautiful evening that reminded us why we do this work.

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CDPL has always known that it takes a team to win a death penalty case. Often, an attorney’s most trusted teammate is the mitigation investigator. Together, they undertake some of the most grueling and emotional work of a capital case: tracking down family members, investigating crime facts, sorting through a lifetime’s worth of records and documents, in addition to spending many hours with the client. Often, the results of that collaboration make the difference between life and death for our clients. That’s why this year, CDPL’s award for outstanding work in death penalty cases goes to a team: Bob Trenkle, an attorney who has spent three decades defending capital clients, and Etta Blankenship, the private investigator, who also does mitigation work, who has worked beside Bob on many of his death penalty cases.

“Bob and Etta exemplify what we mean when we say team defense,” said CDPL Executive Director Gretchen M. Engel. “They have shown us over decades what it means to care about clients and to devote yourself to saving people’s lives.”

Bob and Etta began working together in 1991, when both worked for the Orange County Public Defender’s Office. Bob has now represented more than 100 capital clients, and taken eight cases to capital trial, as well as representing several capital clients in post-conviction proceedings. Etta has been his first pick as an investigator on every one of his cases. In 2001, the two worked together to shape North Carolina’s first Capital Defender’s Office. They helped set the capital defense standards that have made death penalty verdicts rare in North Carolina. Both have also devoted untold hours to mentoring other capital defense teams throughout the state.

Bob has worked as a public defender in both Florida and North Carolina. He also taught law at the University of Florida Law School. He has been with the firm of Edwards & Trenkle since 2002. He is a Board Certified lawyer in both federal and state criminal law. He has lectured and taught attorneys on defending capital murder charges in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Texas, most recently in April. Bob has volunteered as an instructor at numerous training seminars on capital defense, and defense attorneys across the state say he is always willing to take their call and offer as much of his time as they need.

Etta was licensed as a private investigator in 2003. At that time, she began traveling the state doing fact and mitigation investigations in capital cases. Etta is known for her caring touch with clients and building the trust required to help them make good decisions about their defense. In 2017, in addition to dealing with her own cases, she flew to be with a friend whose brother was facing execution in Arkansas. Etta went to the prison with her friend while she had her final visit with her brother and was also at the prison with her friend during the execution of her brother.  Afterwards, Etta wrote this moving piece about that experience.

Bob and Etta never rest on their victories. As soon as they win one case, they move on to saving the next life. We hope that, at our award reception in September, they will finally take a moment to celebrate their many accomplishments. BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE.

The J. Kirk Osborn Award

J. Kirk Osborn

It has now been more than a decade since we lost J. Kirk Osborn, one of the giants of the capital defense community. Kirk defended more than a dozen capital cases and never had a client sentenced to death. His advocacy and deep compassion for his clients saved many lives, and inspired other attorneys to follow in his footsteps. Each year, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation honors Kirk’s legacy by presenting the J. Kirk Osborn Award for lifelong zealous advocacy, compassion for indigent men and women facing the death penalty, and leadership among capital defense attorneys.

On October 11, CDPL honored two of our community’s most outstanding capital defense attorneys, law partners Frank Wells and Jon Megerian. [Go here to read more about their exceptional careers.] Despite a hurricane and a power outage, we managed to have a powerful night celebrating their many accomplishments.

Thanks to photographer Les Todd for volunteering his time to document the evening.

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Frank Wells

During more than 20 years as law partners in Asheboro, Jon Megerian and Frank Wells have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to excellence in capital defense. Their tenacity in and out of the courtroom prompted the Center for Death Penalty Litigation to make them joint recipients of this year’s J. Kirk Osborn Award. They exemplify the leadership, determination, and compassion that are Kirk’s legacy.

Jon and Frank have distinguished themselves by winning life-saving verdicts in some of the most difficult capital cases. In 2011, their client Robert Stewart faced the death penalty for a shooting rampage in a Carthage nursing home that left seven elderly patients and a nurse dead. Stewart was convicted of second-degree murder after Megerian and Wells proved to the jury that Stewart had overdosed on medications and did not even remember his actions on the day of the shooting. And at the 2006 capital trial of Keith Hall, who was accused of murdering four people in a Gaston County trailer park, Megerian and Wells frontloaded powerful mental health evidence. As a result, although Hall was convicted, jurors deadlocked at sentencing after the confounded DA contended that they should not recognize the defendant’s intellectual disability, and should rather attribute his problems to his paranoid schizophrenia. And in 2004, just 15 hours before his scheduled execution, Charles Walker received a stay. Walker ultimately won a new trial and was released from prison.

Jon Megerian

Jon and Frank have also offered invaluable help to other defense attorneys, and have always been willing to guide and empower fellow lawyers. They have served as teachers at CDPL’s Capital College and facilitated many trainings on the Wymore jury selection method, allowing other lawyers to select juries that will save their clients’ lives. With their own work, they have raised expectations for attorney performance; in their roles as teachers and mentors, they help elevate their peers to meet those standards.

Frank is a member of the NC Advocates for Justice, National Legal Aid and Defenders Association, and the National Association for Criminal Defense Lawyers, as well as a past president of the Randolph County Bar Association. He is also a member of CDPL’s board of directors. Jon is a former member of the Board of Governors for the NC Academy of Trial Lawyers, and a past Bar Councilor for the NC State Bar.

“Their brains, passion, skill, creativity, generosity, tenacity, resilience, compassion, and quick humor – gentle and reflective on Frank’s part, ferocious and sarcastic on Jon’s – make them ideal recipients of the high honor that accompanies this award,” said Janet Moore, former N.C. assistant appellate defender and now a professor of law at the University of Cincinnati. “They literally ‘raise the bar’ by providing a model towards which others can aspire.”

On Sept. 28, CDPL honored two of our community’s most outstanding capital defense attorneys: Elaine Gordon, the winner of this year’s Osborn Award, and Ken Rose, winner of the Amsterdam Award. [Go here to read more about their exceptional careers.] Our community shared a beautiful evening at Parizade in Durham. It was an event that reminded us of the urgency of our work and the incredible commitment of our colleagues.

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Fighters ($1,000) — Marcia Angle & Mark Trustin, Frank Baumgartner & Jennifer Thompson, Donald Beskind & Wendy Robineau, Buddy & Lisa Conner, Burton & Heather Craige, Jay & Kay Ferguson, Elizabeth Kuniholm, Megerian & Wells, Glenn, Mills, Fisher & Mahoney, P.A., N.C. Advocates for Justice, Sallenger & Brown, LLP, Adam & Jane Stein, Hon. Mary Ann Tally, Amos Tyndall

Defenders ($500) — Lisa Dubs & Steve Ehlers, Barbara O’Brien, Wanda & Tye Hunter, Janet Moore & Neil Tollas, David Neal & Jennifer Weaver, Rich Rosen & Rebecca Slifken, Steve Schewel & Lao Rubert, Faith Spencer & Mark Parts

Advocates ($250) — Cindy Adcock & Pat McCoy, Jack & Jennifer Boger, Ken & Margie Broun, Buzzard Law Firm, Robert Campbell, Harvey A. (Alec) Carpenter IV, Paul Castle, Richard Dieter, Samuel B. Dixon, Cait Fenhagen, Dionne Gonder-Stanley, Catherine Grosso, Nora Hargrove, Henderson & Renee Hill, Staples & Tamsie Hughes, Robert M. Hurley, Vicky McGee, Robert Mosteller, Christine Mumma, Ann Petersen & James Glover, Harold G. “Butch” Pope, Jenny Warburg, Susan Weigand, Susan J. Zach

Friends ($100) — Anna Arceneaux, June Arlinghaus, Bradley Bannon, Joseph Blocher, David Botchin, Ginger Calloway, Hon. Pat Devine, Drew Dulberg, The Elliott Group, Tom Fewell, Ronald Foxworth, Ted Frazer, Terrica Ganzy, Glenn Gerding, Alyson Grine & Karen Stegman, Vicki Jayne, Kate Joyce & Jeff Miller, Peter Kuhns, Thomas Maher, Massengale & Ozer, Deb H. McNeill, Melissa Michaud, North Carolina Justice Center, Vincent F. Rabil, Kenneth Ransom, Tonza Ruffin, William Simpson, Helen Spielman, Fred Spielman, Cassandra Stubbs, Jake Sussman, David Teddy, Bob Trenkle, Paul Welch

The J. Kirk Osborn Award

J. Kirk Osborn

It has now been a decade since we lost J. Kirk Osborn, one of the giants of the capital defense community. Kirk defended more than a dozen capital cases and never had a client sentenced to death. His advocacy and deep compassion for his clients saved many lives, and inspired other attorneys to follow in his footsteps.

This year, the Center for Death Penalty Litigation will once again honor Kirk’s legacy by presenting the J. Kirk Osborn Award for lifelong zealous advocacy, compassion for indigent men and women facing the death penalty, and leadership among capital defense attorneys. The 2017 award will go to Elaine Gordon, another warrior against the death penalty and a pillar of the capital defense community.

Elaine began her career as a public defender, working in Atlanta, Washington D.C. and Durham. In 2002, she joined CDPL’s Trial Assistance Unit and took on her enduring role as a consultant on capital cases across the state. She moved to the N.C. Office of Indigent Defense Services’ capital defender’s office in 2011, where she continued in her role as a compassionate ear and expert advisor for every North Carolina lawyer who has faced the awesome responsibility of defending a capital client at trial. She has helped to train virtually every capital trial attorney in North Carolina.

Elaine Gordon

Elaine always emphasized the importance of lawyers building strong relationships with clients. She developed critical resources for helping defendants facing the death penalty fully understand the risks of capital trials and make smart decisions in their own cases. Capital attorneys knew her as someone they could call at any time of the day or night, who never turned down an opportunity to help them bring a case to the best resolution. Many capital defense attorneys say she is a key reason why death sentences in North Carolina have fallen so dramatically in recent years.

“There are few attorneys who care for their clients – who truly see the value in their lives – as Elaine does. Her ability to build relationships with even the most broken of clients is simply magical,” writes Anna Arceneaux, a senior staff attorney with the ACLU’s Capital Punishment Project. “Capital clients across the state have taken life-saving pleas for no other reason than that they loved Elaine. Because they felt so deeply how much she cared for them and knew she would only recommend it if it were in their best interest.”

Elaine also took on her own clients, including death row inmate Shawn Bonnett. She visited Bonnett every month for 15 years, gaining a deep understanding of the conditions on death row and the unfairness of the death penalty. Bonnett was one of four people who participated in a robbery that led to a man’s murder. He was neither the shooter nor the mastermind of the crime, yet he was the only one of the four to receive the death penalty. Elaine fought ceaselessly until Bonnett finally won relief and was removed from death row in 2014. She says Bonnett’s suffering on death row motivated her to keep other defendants from ending up there.

She has also won the Fair Trial Initiative’s Mary Ann Tally Award for “dedication and leadership that elevates the practice of capital defense,” as well as the Charles L. Becton Award for Teaching from the N.C. Advocates for Justice.

The Anthony G. Amsterdam Award

Tony Amsterdam

This year for the first time, CDPL will also present the Anthony G. Amsterdam Award, in honor of Tony’s relentless and groundbreaking work to end the death penalty. Tony argued in front of the Supreme Court on multiple occasions, and always refused to mince words about the systemic racism and unfairness that infects our capital punishment system. Tony is best known for winning Furman v. Georgia, which effectively stopped executions for nearly a decade and forced a complete overhaul of the American death penalty. He is the architect of the modern strategy to end the death penalty.

Ken Rose was the obvious choice for the Amsterdam Award, as he is North Carolina’s version of Tony. All of us in the capital defense community know Ken as our visionary, whose passionate pursuit of relief for his clients has transformed the landscape in North Carolina. Thanks in large part to Ken’s innovative ideas and impact litigation, and his refusal to give up despite the odds, executions have been on hold for more than a decade and groundbreaking evidence of racial bias in capital cases has come to light in North Carolina. Ken also saw two of his death-sentenced clients, Henry McCollum and Bo Jones, released. McCollum received a pardon of innocence from the governor in 2015.

Ken retired from his longtime post as a senior attorney and former executive director at CDPL at the end of 2016. He had come to North Carolina in 1989, a young lawyer who began his career in Georgia with the idealistic notion that a poor criminal defendant facing the death penalty should get the same quality of defense as a deep-pocketed corporate client. He grew into one of North Carolina’s most respected and visionary death penalty attorneys.

Ken Rose and his client, Henry McCollum – ©Jenny Warburg

Ken pushed for the passage the N.C. Racial Justice Act, a first-of-its-kind 2009 law that exposed decades of systematic racial bias in capital jury selection. He is also a key player in North Carolina’s lethal injection litigation, which has kept executions on hold here for more than a decade – an achievement that no other southern state has even approached.

Through it all, Ken never lost the idealism or the passion that has driven him since his earliest days. He never stopped being surprised – and outraged – at injustice. He never stopped plotting how to outwit the machinery of death, constantly dreaming up creative strategies that pushed boundaries and set precedents. And he never stopped representing every client as if both of their lives depended on it.

“Ken is both fearless and relentless on behalf of his clients,” says CDPL’s Executive Director Gretchen M. Engel. “There were times when he made judges and opposing counsel furious with his arguments. You could cut the tension in the courtroom with a knife. Most lawyers would have lost their nerve and started backpedaling.  Ken was eerily calm and he never backed down.”

Read more of our tribute to Ken’s extraordinary career here.