NAVRA presents a FREE Webinar Training exclusively for NAVRA members:

Rape Shield: Using Victims’ Rights Laws to Enforce Privacy Rights

LEARNING OBJECTIVE
This training is designed to help victim law practitioners prevent the defendant from introducing evidence about a victim's past sexual history. Although every state has some rape shield protections, very few of these provisions explicitly allow the victim to be present at rape shield hearings. Additionally, under the rape shield provisions the victim is seldom explicitly allowed to appeal or seek other review if the defendant is successful in admitting evidence of a victim's past sexual history. Those rape shield provisions that do provide for appeal tend to permit it only through the prosecutor, not through the victim (or his or her attorney) directly. Teleconference presenters Keli Luther, Senior Attorney at the Arizona Voice for Crime Victims legal clinic, along with NCVLI Executive Director Meg Garvin and NCVLI attorney Alison Wilkinson will discuss the operation of rape shield laws in connection with victims' statutory and constitutional rights under states' victims bills of rights. The presenters discuss the case of Doe v. United States, 666 F.2d 43 (4th Cir. 1981), which held that victims have standing to challenge adverse rulings at rape shield hearings, and the possible reasons why the case law has not advanced in terms of a victim's ability to enforce the rape shield laws since this nearly 30-year old case was decided. The presenters will also discuss how victims’ rights provisions can be leveraged to allow victim participation in rape shield proceedings and to create avenues for appellate review.

This teleconference training is open to NAVRA members only. NAVRA membership fees are temporarily waived, so please click here to register.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THE PRESENTERS

Keli Luther, J.D. is the senior attorney for Arizona Voice for Crime Victims (AVCV). AVCV is the first direct representation legal clinic for crime victims in the United States. It is the mission of AVCV to vigorously advocate for the protection and enforcement of a crime victim’s constitutional rights in court. Formed in 2001, AVCV is comprised of staff attorneys, Arizona State University College of Law students, and volunteer attorneys who represent crime victims pro bono during all criminal proceedings. Ms. Luther began her work at AVCV as a volunteer. She was later hired permanently as the project’s staff attorney. Within the scope of her position, Ms. Luther has represented crime victims throughout the criminal justice process, including advocating at both the trial and appellate level, including the United States and Arizona Supreme Court. She has also researched, drafted, and argued motions resulting in key victims’ rights victories involving such constitutional issues as the right to be heard, speedy trial, evidentiary disclosure issues such as victim privacy, and victim impact statements. Ms. Luther drafted the United States Supreme Court amicus curiae brief on behalf of all crime victims in Ring v. State of Arizona. Prior to Ms. Luther’s constitutional work with crime victims, she practiced in the area of corporate and constitutional law litigation in Washington, D.C., before returning home to Arizona in late 2001.

Meg Garvin, M.A., J.D. currently serves as the Executive Director for the National Crime Victim Law Institute (NCVLI). She leads NCVLI's impact litigation, and provides legal technical assistance to attorneys representing crime victims nationwide. Ms. Garvin has presented on victims' rights at over 50 conferences nationwide; she regularly participates in national forums to develop policy on victims' rights, and has testified before Congress and the Oregon Legislature on the current state of victim law. She is currently serving as co-chair of the American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Section Victims Committee and has been appointed by the Oregon Attorney General to Oregon's Sexual Assault Task Force. Prior to joining NCVLI, Ms. Garvin clerked for the Honorable Donald P. Lay of the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals, after which she practiced law in a private firm in Minneapolis, Minnesota, focusing on appellate litigation, complex business litigation, and employment law. She has a B.A. from the University of Puget Sound, an M.A. in Communication Studies with an emphasis in rhetorical theory from the University of Iowa, and a J.D. from the University of Minnesota.

Alison Wilkinson, J.D. is an attorney at NCVLI and clinical faculty at Lewis & Clark Law School, where she co-teaches a clinic on victim’s rights. She supervises the administration of NCVLI’s grant with the Office of Violence against Women, including by collaborating with other organizations, planning training sessions, and fielding legal technical assistance requests. Ms. Wilkinson has worked on a broad range of technical assistance requests at NCVLI, including drafting amicus briefs, and performing research and drafting memos on issues relating to sexual assault, domestic violence, and privacy, among other topics. She has presented at both local and national conferences on victims’ rights. She has also been appointed by the Oregon Attorney General to Oregon's Sexual Assault Task Force. Prior to joining NCVLI, Ms. Wilkinson worked as a litigation associate at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe in New York City. Alison has a B.A. in English from the University of Michigan and a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law.

This training is supported by Grant No. 2008-DD-BX-K001, awarded by the Office for Victims of Crime (OVC), Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in the presentation and any accompanying documents are those of the presenters and authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice.