Wednesday Series III: Using Evidence to Promote Public Safety: Practical Considerations for Prosecution

Following graduation from Stanford Law School in 1971 and admission to the California and Oregon State Bars, Peter served as a state public defender and a federal prosecutor, a partner in private law firms in the San Francisco Bay Area and Portland, a tenured law professor at the University of Oregon and a visiting professor of law at the University of San Francisco. He has also served as a senior policy advisor to three Oregon governors, the first chair of Oregon's Sentencing Guidelines Commission, vice-chair of the Oregon Investment Council, chief counsel to the U.S. Attorney in Oregon, the first executive director of Multnomah County's Local Public Safety Coordinating Council and the first executive director of Oregon's Office of Public Defense Services. From 2006 to 2008, Peter was Maricopa County, Arizona's first assistant county manager for Criminal Justice, where he oversaw the fourth largest and fastest growing local criminal justice system in the country.

Peter has also been an instructor at the National Judicial College and the National Institute of Trial Advocacy, teaching courses on trial advocacy, evidence and criminal law to practicing lawyers and judges. He designed and operated the nation's first federally-funded law school clinic in criminal defense practice, as well as a training program funded by the University of Minnesota’s Criminal Justice Institute for judges, lawyers, law students and other justice professionals in sentencing law and policy and evidence-based corrections practices.

Peter co-authored Oregon's first corrections master plan and helped lead the development and implementation of the state's felony sentencing guidelines system. As the first chief executive officer of public defense systems in Oregon and Arizona (each employing over 1,000 lawyers with annual budgets of $100 million), he designed and implemented quality assurance and training programs that serve as national models for assuring the quality of criminal and juvenile defense services. He has also published numerous articles on criminal justice, sentencing and corrections policies and criminal law and procedure in national and international publications.

Current Responsibilities:
Peter is responsible for advising the Multnomah County Chair and Board of Commissioners on public safety policies, budget priorities, crime reduction strategies and evidence-based practices. He is also responsible for overseeing interagency and intergovernmental projects to improve the cost-effectiveness of the county's public safety system.

Mr. Roy Austin returned to the Civil Rights Division as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section of the United States Department of Justice in January 2010. Roy previously served as a Senior Assistant United States Attorney and Coordinator of the D.C. Human Trafficking Task Force in the Federal Major Crimes Section in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.

He began his career as an Honors Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, Criminal Section. Later, he joined Keker & Van Nest LLP in San Francisco, where he worked on complex civil and white-collar criminal cases including a successful pro-bono civil lawsuit aimed at preventing racial profiling by the California Highway Patrol. In 2002, he joined the D.C. U.S. Attorney’s Office where he prosecuted domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, homicide and fraud and public corruption cases.

He is also an adjunct law professor at George Washington University Law School and the American University Washington College of Law. Austin received his B.A. from Yale University and his J.D. from The University of Chicago.

Mr. Berkley is the Assistant Director of Programs for the National District Attorneys Association's National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina and also serves as the Director of the National Center for Community Prosecution for NDAA. He is a graduate of Weber State University and the University of Utah College of Law. Mr. Berkley has been a prosecutor for 13 years and has worked at every level of prosecution, handling everything from traffic offenses, to criminal appeals, to capital homicide. He has been with NDAA since 2008 and has worked on gangs, guns, and community prosecution initiatives with a focus on innovative mechanisms of crime prevention, improving community involvement with the criminal justice system and providing outreach and training to rural communities. Mr. Berkley has provided training and technical assistance to many state and local governments as well as to international entities. He speaks frequently on issues relating to prosecution ethics and motivation, gun violence, gangs, domestic and sexual violence, impaired driving, and trial advocacy skills.

Chauncey Parker serves as Executive Assistant District Attorney for Crime Prevention. Mr. Parker also serves as the Director of the New York/New Jersey High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a federally-funded program that invests in federal, state and local law enforcement partnerships designed to disrupt the market for illegal drugs. A veteran of more than 23 years in criminal justice, Mr. Parker began his career in the District Attorney's Office, serving for five years in the Trial Division and in the Office of the New York City Special Narcotics Prosecutor. Mr. Parker next served for 10 years as an Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York under Mary Jo White, serving in the Organized Crime Unit. Mr. Parker left the Southern District to serve for five years as the Director of Criminal Justice for New York State and Commissioner of the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services under Gov. George E. Pataki, where he oversaw all state criminal justice agencies, including the New York State Police, New York State Department of Correctional Services and New York State Parole. Mr. Parker is a member of the Board of the Police Athletic League, Harlem Day Charter School and Joyful Heart Foundation. He is a graduate of Rollins College and Duke University School of Law.