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Nationally recognized criminal justice policy experts join SMU’s Deason Center, working to end longstanding injustices in the early stages of the criminal justice system.

DALLAS (SMU) – The Deason Criminal Justice Reform Center at SMU’s Dedman School of Law is launching the , a national initiative focused on the urgent problems that often arise in the immediate aftermath of an arrest.

Across the country, thousands of Americans continue to wait days or weeks following their arrest before they see a judge or meet an attorney. The Day One campaign seeks to end this injustice by advocating for state-level reforms that guarantee immediate due process protections for every person accused of a crime.

“When life and liberty are at stake, every second counts,” said Pamela Metzger, professor of law and executive director of the Deason Center. “When we delay due process and the Sixth Amendment right to counsel, we violate the Constitution and cause enormous lifelong harm. Every day, our team works hard to end the dangerous and costly delays that arrested people face in seeing a judge and getting a lawyer.”

To support the , the Deason Center has hired several experts and promoted one existing team member:

David Anderson, a public defender with more than a decade of experience, is the Deason Center’s new Day One campaign director, leading on-the-ground reform efforts in target states. Before joining the Deason Center, Anderson was a trial-level public defender in the New Orleans area and later at The Bronx Defenders. He also worked with legal aid teams across the Middle East and Asia as program director at the International Legal Foundation. Anderson is a graduate of Tulane University Law School and Carroll College.

Camilla Hsu joins the Deason Center as senior staff attorney to lead the Center’s Day One litigation efforts. Hsu was previously director of strategic litigation for the Texas Fair Defense Project. She also served as an appellate public defender at the Center for Appellate Litigation in New York City, a trial-level public defender at The Bronx Defenders, and an E. Barrett Prettyman Fellow at the Georgetown University Law Center. Hsu is a graduate of Harvard Law School and Yale University.

Nathan Fennell will also focus on litigation as the Deason Center’s new staff attorney. Before joining the Center, Fennell served as an Equal Justice Works fellow and then as strategic litigation attorney at Texas Fair Defense Project. He also previously coordinated intake, appointment of counsel, and post-sentencing services at the Orleans Public Defenders. Fennell began his professional career as a member of the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. He is a graduate of Stanford Law School, the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas-Austin, and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Cynthia Lee has been hired as the Center’s first empirical policy attorney to support the Day One campaign with legal and research expertise. Lee joins the Deason Center after working as a principal court research associate at the National Center for State Courts where she conducted quantitative and qualitative research to inform public policy and court management decisions. She is a graduate of the William & Mary Law School and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the College of William & Mary.

Tony Burney joins the Deason Center as a research and policy analyst. Burney holds a master’s degree in public policy analysis with a concentration in social justice from Texas A&M University, where he also earned his bachelor’s degree in sociology.

Malia Brink, who served as the Deason Center’s senior policy attorney for almost three years, has been promoted to policy director. She will now oversee the Deason Center’s policy, advocacy, and litigation efforts, including the Day One campaign. Brink has been instrumental in growing the Center’s national profile and advancing reforms across the country that expand access to courts and counsel.

“State justice systems are failing to uphold basic constitutional rights. This causes significant, and sometimes irrevocable, damage not only to the lives of the people that go through the legal system, but also to their families and communities,” explained Brink. “Changing these systems will be a marathon, not a sprint, but we have assembled an extraordinary team to pursue these reform efforts and create lasting change in our legal system.”

The Day One campaign is supported by and .