Faculty Bios
Keynote Speakers
John A. Lentine (Partner, Sheffield & Lentine, P.C., Birmingham, Alabama) received his B.A. with honors from the University of West Florida and his J.D. from Cumberland Law School in 1987. He practices exclusively criminal defense work on the trial and appellate levels throughout the State of Alabama and in a variety of Federal trial and appellate courts. He is a Past President of the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the Greater Birmingham Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, and the Legal Aid Society of Birmingham. He is a Life Member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and he has been Board Certified as a Criminal Trial Advocate by the National Board of Trial Advocacy and has served as the Board’s State Coordinator in Alabama. He was the CJA Panel Representative and Resource Counsel for the United States District Court of the Northern District of Alabama for ten years and also served as the 11th Circuit’s Representative to and for 3 years. He served as the Chief CJA Panel Representative in the United States to the Defender Services Advisory Group for the Administrative Office of Courts in Washington.
He has been appointed by the Alabama Supreme Court to serve on the Alabama Criminal Rules Committee and the Alabama Pattern Criminal Jury Instructions Committee and was appointed by the President of the Alabama State Bar in 2013 to serve as the Chair of the newly restored Criminal Justice Section of the State Bar and as Vice Chair of the Appointed Counsel & Indigent Representation Committee. He has also served on the Executive Committee of the Birmingham Bar Association and Birmingham Bar Foundation.
He is a faculty member of the National Criminal Defense College in Macon, Georgia, and the Georgia Criminal Defense Association’s Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Program. He is an adjunct faculty member at Cumberland School of Law where he teaches trial advocacy and the Birmingham School of Law where he teaches criminal law, criminal procedure and the death penalty. He has also been an adjunct professor at Miles Law School and has lectured at Faulkner and the University of Alabama schools of law.
He has been a Fellow in the American Board of Criminal Lawyers and is a Fellow in the American Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America specializing in Non-White Collar and White Collar Criminal Defense, Alabama’s SuperLawyers in the area of criminal defense, and The Birmingham Magazine’s and The Birmingham Business Journal’s Best Lawyers in Birmingham and acknowledged by The National Trial Lawyers as one of the top 100 trial lawyers in Alabama and by the American Society of Legal Advocates as one of the Top 100 criminal defense lawyers in Alabama.
He is the 2010 recipient of the Judge Walter P. Gewin Award from CLE Alabama for his contributions to the development and presentation of CLE programs. The Best Lawyers in America has selected him as Birmingham’s “Lawyer of the Year” for 2012 in Non-White Collar criminal defense and in 2018 as Birimingham’s“Lawyer of the Year” in White Collar criminal defense.
In 2012 he received the “Lawrence B. Sheffield, Jr. Lifetime Achievement Award” from the Greater Birmingham Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. In 2013 he was selected as a Master Bencher in the inaugural group of Masters of the Bench in the Judge James Edwin Horton Inn of Court at Cumberland School of Law. Also John has recently been listed in the Top 50 Alabama Super Lawyers for 2013-18 and listed in the Top 10 criminal defense attorneys in Alabama by the National Academy of Criminal Defense Attorneys. In March of 2014 he was named to membership in the National Association of Distinguished Counsel in the area of criminal defense. In May of 2014, he received the “Roderick Beddow Sr. Award” from the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association. The Beddow Award is the ACDLA’s highest honor and recognizes a lifetime achievement and service in the field of criminal defense.
John has spoken at numerous CLE programs over the last 25 years in Alabama and across the country devoted to the teaching and training of criminal defense lawyers.
Sam D. Dennis is the owner of Sam D. Dennis, P.C. in Valdosta, Georgia. He graduated from Valdosta State University with a B.S. in Criminal Justice and a Master in Public Administration and a J.D. from the University of Arkansas, Little Rock School of Law. Sam focuses his practice on Tractor/Trailer Crashes, Personal Injury, Wrongful Death, Medical Malpractice, Products Liability, Criminal Defense and Domestic Relations. Sam began his legal career at the Law Firm of Dodd and Kieger, P.C. and later was a partner in the Firm of Dodd and Dennis, P.C. before opening his own firm in October 2001.He is a member and former Vice-President of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, a member, past President, Vice-President, Parliamentarian and Secretary of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, a member of American Association for Justice, and past member and Chairman of the Judicial Council of Georgia, Board of Court Reporting. Sam is a board member of the Board of Directors for the Federal Defenders of the Middle District of Georgia, Inc. He has been designated consistently as a Super Lawyer and former Super Lawyer Rising Star. Sam has been selected as a Top 100 Criminal Defense Attorney as well as The National Trial Lawyers Top 100 Civil Plaintiff. Sam is a member of the Faculty of the National Criminal Defense College as well as the Bill Daniel Trial Advocacy Program and has lectured nationally and internationally on the topics of Cross-Examination, Voir Dire, Opening Statements, and Scientific Evidence and Expert Testimony and Impeachment.
Lecturing Faculty
Andrea K. George is the Executive Director of the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho. She has held this position since 2012. Ms. George began her legal career in 1989 as an Appellate Attorney with the Federal Defenders of Minnesota. In 1992 she became a trial attorney with that office and was eventually promoted to Senior Litigator. This year marks her thirty-sixth with the Federal Defender program. She is the past President of the National Association of Federal Defenders, the past Chair of the Community Defender Working Group and is a past member of the Board of Regents for the National Criminal Defense College. Ms. George is on the faculty of NCDC and speaks regularly for the Federal Judicial Center and other Defender programs. Ms. George is honored to be an adjunct professor at Gonzaga School of Law teaching Trial Advocacy.
Rachel Forde joined SCPDA in 2006. Rachel earned her B.A. at DePauw University and her J.D. at Indiana University Maurer School of Law. During law school, Rachel worked as a law clerk at both Indiana Legal Services and Bet Tzedek Legal Services. Rachel received the Washington Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers President’s Award in 2023 given to recognize distinguished service to the highest traditions of the criminal defense bar. In 2007, she received Washington Defender Association President’s Award for outstanding work in the legal representation of the indigent. Currently she is on the WACDL CLE Committee where she helps organize state-wide educational programs for criminal defense attorneys. She has served on the WACDL Board of Governors and the WDA Board of Directors, the WSBA Legislative Committee, and the WACDL CLE Committee, as well as the Washington State Legislature Eyewitness Evidence and Informant Reliability Work Groups. Rachel has presented at statewide programs on jury selection, cross examination of experts, litigating domestic violence no contact orders, and media strategy in high profile cases. In addition to representing people accused of serious violent and sex offenses in Snohomish County and across the state, Rachel is on the panel of conflict attorneys for the U.S. District Court of Western Washington.
In 1994, Anne C. Taylor earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science and continued her education by earning her Master’s Degree in Public Administration in 1996. She attended law school and earned her Juris Doctorate in 1998. Anne began her career as Deputy Prosecuting Attorney in Bannock County in 1998. She moved to the Kootenai County Prosecutor’s Office in 1999. She found her true passion when she accepted a job with the Kootenai County Public Defender’s Office in 2004. She worked as a Deputy Public Defender handling juvenile, misdemeanor and felony cases.
Anne was in private practice from 2012-2017 first in solo practice, then merged her office with a group of other attorneys in 2014. During her time in private practice, Anne continued to work in Public Defense taking conflict or contract public defense work in various counties. In 2017 Anne accepted the position of Kootenai County’s Chief Public Defender, fulfilling a long-held career goal. In late summer of 2024, Anne reestablished her private practice where she has proudly continued to work on appointed Capital cases.
In 2010 Anne was qualified by the Idaho Supreme Court as Lead Counsel for Capital Defense cases. She remained on the roster of Capital Defense Counsel with the Idaho Supreme Court and later with the Public Defense Commission in Idaho. She serves as a board member for Idaho Criminal Defense Association and is a Board of Director’s Member for the Federal Defenders of Washington and Idaho.
Lorinda Youngcourt has represented capital and non-capital clients in trial, direct appeal, state post-conviction, and federal habeas corpus as a public defender and in private practice. She is faculty at various trial skills programs around the country. Lorinda was the first King County (Seattle, WA) Public Defender from 2015-2018 overseeing the unification of the four non-profit agencies into a single county department. She was the first Lawrence County Indiana Public Defender from 2010-2014, creating an agency to replace a contractual public defender system. In late 2018, Lorinda returned to her roots as a trial lawyer and is now the Senior Litigator for the Federal Defenders Office of Eastern Washington and Idaho in Spokane, Washington.
Amy H. Rubin first joined the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington & Idaho in 1999. She left to complete a two-year clerkship with U.S. District Judge Clarence Cooper in Atlanta before returning to the Federal Defenders in 2003. Later, in 2013, she became the managing attorney in the office and has been there ever since. Amy graduated from the University of Colorado in 1995, received her law degree from the University of Montana in 2000, and has taught at Emory University, the University of Idaho, Gonzaga University, and at various state and federal trial advocacy programs. She is a NCDC faculty member and teaches regularly at sentencing advocacy workshops.
Honorary Faculty, Judge George Fearing, began service as a Judge of Division III of the Court of Appeals in June 2013. He succeeded Judge Dennis Sweeney, his former law partner, as the sole member of the court in position 2, which covers nine southeastern Washington counties. Voters retained Judge Fearing in contested elections in 2013 and 2016. Before joining the court, George Fearing practiced law in the Tri-Cities with the same law firm for 31 years. Fearing was a trial lawyer, who specialized in representing municipal corporations and law enforcement officers in civil litigation. He also handled commercial and employment litigation. Despite his reputation as being a trial lawyer, George loved legal research and writing and handled over 90 appeals as a litigator. Judge Fearing served his church in various capacities, including adult and child teacher, religious liberty director, and local church board member. He served on the Board of Directors of Tri-City Junior Academy. He graduated from Walla Walla University in 1979 and served as his alma mater’s Alumni President. In 2013 he was honored as the University’s Alumnus of the Decade for the 1970s. Fearing graduated from the University of Washington law school in 1982. Five others from his class have served on the Court of Appeals. George Fearing has served as a presidential elector. His hobbies include reading history and listening to classical and new age music. He has written four unpublished history books: See George Run, Water Gate, My Year with Bush, and How We Die. He has also authored short stories and a timeline for religious liberty events. George’s lawyer wife and he have three grown sons, none of whom thankfully pursued law as a career.
Break-out Group Facilitators
Cassie Trueblood has worked at the Snohomish County Public Defender Association since 2006. She is currently a trial attorney in the felony unit and has been in the misdemeanor unit, the juvenile unit, and has served as both felony and misdemeanor supervisor. Cassie earned her B.A. at DePauw University and her J.D. at the University of Washington School of Law. During law school, Cassie worked as a legal intern at the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho, the Washington Defender Association, and the U.S. Immigration Court in Miami.
Cassie was part of the Trueblood litigation team that received the WACDL Champion of Justice Award in 2015. Cassie also received the WDA President’s Award and the SCBA President’s Award that same year. She has presented at state and national CLEs on trial skills, mental health issues, and shaken baby litigation. Cassie graduated from the NCDC trial skills program in 2021.
David Roberson brings over 36 years of criminal defense experience to this year’s WACDL conference. A graduate of Georgetown Law Center (Class of ’89), David has spent decades in the courtroom and in leadership roles across the legal community. He’s a past Outstanding Lawyer of the Year recipient from the King County Bar Association, and he served on the Board of the Directors for Northwest Defenders Association. David currently practices with the Snohomish County Public Defender Association and sits on the Judicial Evaluation Committee for the Loren Miller Bar Association. Whether it's navigating a challenging trial or mentoring the next generation of defenders, David has a wealth of experience to draw on when developing a strategy for a case.
Don Wackerman was a graduate of Hamilton College and earned his J.D. at Boston University. He recently retired after a 38-year career as a public defender. He spent 19 years at The Defender Association in King County, and retired from the Snohomish County Public Defender Association where he worked for the last 19 years. During his long career, Don took over 150 felony cases to trial, and was death penalty qualified. He received a Certificate of Recognition from the Washington Defender Association for his lifetime work to improve justice outcomes for his clients in 2023, received the 2024 Snohomish County Bar Association Presidents Award, and has extensive experience as faculty at trial training programs.
Gabriel Rothstein is a public defender at the Snohomish County Public Defender Association. Gabe started at SCPDA in 2005. He worked in the Misdemeanor Unit, Felony Unit (multiple rotations) Drug Court attorney, Misdemeanor Supervisor, Juvenile Court, Juvenile Court Lead Attorney. He is currently in the civil unit representing clients under RCW 71.09/SVP law. RCW 71.09 deals with people who have been or who the state is seeking to have civilly committed as Sexually Violent Predators. If found to be an SVP these people are confined in a lock down facility on an Island in the Puget Sound called McNeil Island. 71.09 trials and hearings are throughout the State of Washington. Trials are typically 3-4 weeks long involving thousands of pages of discovery, and to Gabe’s shock, the State can (and sometimes will) call you client as a witness in his own trial. Gabe is on the board of directors of the Holman Recovery Center, an in-patient treatment facility in Snohomish County. He takes on-calls for the Youth Access to Counsel Line (YAC), and he is the chair of the WSBA Character and Fitness Board. Over his twenty-year career Gabe has extensive trial experience, approximately 75 trials including 3.5 SVP trials. Gabe attended NCDC in 2013 and found it to be an invaluable experience. Gabe’s biggest strengths are his organization/preparation and a razor like wit that charms jurors and infuriates prosecutors. Gabe has learned that in order to be successful long term in this field one needs to have a good work life balance, he values time spent with friends, he tries to take a vacation after every long trial and is known to hit up the water park with friends or solo if need be. His go-to drink at the bar is Bourbon on the rocks and his favorite food is pizza.
Kevin Griffin is a felony supervisor at the Thurston County Public Defense Office. He’s been working in Olympia for the past eight years. Prior to that, he was with Spokane County’s conflict office, Counsel for Defense, and at the main Spokane County Public Defense office before that. He absolutely loves the work, although he’s kind of old and occasionally tired. He was incredibly honored with the Anthony Savage Award by WACDL in 2015. He has tried close to 200 felony cases, including more than 25 homicides, and is waiting on a verdict as I type this bio. It’s probably because he is the world’s worst negotiator.
Carl Oreskovich is a 1982 graduate of the University of Montana School of Law. For the last 43 years his practice has focused on all aspects of criminal defense, including complex white-collar crime, as well as civil fraud litigation. He has tried more than 100 jury trials and has been recognized as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers, listed in the Best Lawyers of America, and has been named as a Washington Super Lawyer. Mr. Oreskovich has served on numerous professional committees and boards, including as a bar examiner for the Washington State Bar Association, a member of the Practitioner’s Advisory Group for the United States Sentencing Commission, and a member of the Board of Directors for the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington and Idaho.
Brooke Hagara graduated from Gonzaga Law School in 2004. She began her career with a small criminal defense firm in Spokane, moving on to become a felony public defender with Spokane County for 12 years. While there, she tried all matter of felonies and developed a special expertise in child abuse and sexual assault cases. She opened Hagara Law in 2018, handling primarily indigent trial and appellate cases and joining the federal bar to practice in federal district and appellate court. She has been an adjunct professor at GU Law since 2022 and serves as a pro tem commissioner in Spokane County Superior Court. She practices along with her husband Jeff Compton and her former intern Renee Witherspoon, a recent GU graduate.
Jeff Compton spent 30 years at the Spokane County Public Defender's Office as a felony trial attorney, after graduating from Gonzaga School of Law in 1994. He did over 200 trials and was nicknamed "The Iceman" by prosecutors. When he was one bad jail visit away from retiring, he joined his wife Brooke Hagara as appellate counsel handling indigent appeals. He currently works from home part-time.
Victoria Blumhorst began her legal career with the Spokane County Public Defender’s Office in 2006. She worked in the misdemeanor unit for a little over a year before being promoted to the felony unit. In 2019 Ms. Blumhorst moved to the conflict office for Spokane County, Counsel For Defense, where she now serves as the Director. Ms. Blumhorst attended NCDC as a Judy Clarke Public Service Scholarship recipient in 2017. She currently serves on the WDA board, Council on Public Defense, and the Gender and Justice Commission. Ms. Blumhorst graduated from University of Missouri Columbia School of Law. A native of St. Louis, Ms. Blumhorst is an avid hockey fan and occasionally drinks more than one glass of wine at time. Let’s Go BLUES.
Steve Roberts is a Trial Attorney at the Federal Defenders of Eastern Washington & Idaho (FDEWI). A native of Virginia, he graduated from the College of William & Mary. Afterwards, he taught middle school history and civics in the inner city of Richmond (VA) and then English abroad in Peru. Steve headed west to Spokane on his next adventure to pursue his love of the outdoors and law. He graduated from Gonzaga School of Law with honors. After law school, Steve clerked for the Hon. Robert H. Whaley, Senior U.S. District Judge for the Eastern District of Washington from 2012-2014. He transitioned to FDEWI in Spokane as a Fellowship and later Trial Attorney from 2014 to present. In addition to his Spokane and north Idaho caseload, Steve co-supervises the office’s Intern/Extern Program and serves on Eastern Washington’s STEP court. From 2015-2020, Steve was an Adjunct Professor at Gonzaga School of Law where he co-coached the National Moot Court Team. He is also active in the Federal Bar Association of Eastern Washington, having served as past President in 2023.