Meet Hunter Parnell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Parnell.

Hi Hunter, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
Growing up in Colorado, many of my family members had interactions with the criminal legal system. Many suffered from addiction and mental illness, and I saw repeatedly that Colorado failed to get them the resources they needed to get better.

This sparked an interest in criminal justice reform that would eventually help me decide to pursue a degree in legal studies at the US Air Force Academy. While there, several of my professors sparked an interest in the 6th and 8th Amendments. This interest reached a head after the murder of George Floyd, and I wanted to take my interests in some way to help others learn about the failings of our criminal legal system.

For the next two years, I researched and wrote about each state’s public defender system. After speaking with several amazing mentors in the field, I settled on launching the Public Defenseless Podcast to try and showcase all the rotten aspects of the criminal legal system and what we can do to solve it. In addition to all of this, much of my confidence, public speaking, and willingness to dive headfirst into things comes from my time on the US Air Force Parachute team.

From 2016-2018, I was a member of the US Air Force Parachute team where I was a demonstrator, instructor, and Jumpmaster. In these capacities, I got to travel around the country and in Colorado to skydive into air shows, football games, and even Coors Field. It was an amazing honor to jump into a Denver Public School-sponsored event to inspire the future generation of Young Colorado students to try and achieve their dreams!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
At first, it was extremely difficult to get experts in the field on the phone or contact them. As a complete outsider to the legal profession at the time, I had no reputation or contacts to rely on.

It is truly thanks to the kindness and generosity of a few people that I have now been able to build up a reputation and following that makes the podcast run extremely smoothly.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
While also attending law school, I host, produce, and publish my Podcast, Public Defenseless. Each week, I speak with Public Defenders and criminal legal system reformers to discuss different policies and broken legal systems in their jurisdictions.

Despite being completely independent and supported through user funds, the show has topped out at number 30 on Government Apple Podcasts and usually charts between 80 and 50. I am extremely proud to have amassed 10K followers on all platforms, but most important to me is to have created a platform for people who are fighting for more just country a place to talk about their work. I feel honored to have contributed to the spread of ideas and the connection of thinkers who can accelerate this process.

Where do you see things going in the next 5-10 years?
Podcasting will only continue to grow as more and more people continue to shift away from traditional media. It’s an exciting time to be someone interested in a niche topic like Public Defense because it’s the first time that a small-time creator like me can reach a national audience like mine.

For Public Defense as a whole, the future is murky (as it usually is). There is a crisis in staffing, workload, and pay around the country. Certain states (Oregon and Maine) almost collapsed this year, and with new workload standards and rising levels of unionization, I could foresee serious work stoppages becoming far more frequent.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.publicdefenseless.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/publicdefenselesspodcast/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PDefenselessPod
• Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cDXEXGXsMJ90EN2uGb1ZC?si=968a6191aa5048ba&nd=1 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/public-defenseless/id1600528975