Ask a Mitigation Specialist
Ask a Mitigation Specialist is a resource program that allows defenders to meet directly and privately with a mitigation specialist for specific technical assistance. The information discussed during each session is confidential. Complete the registration form below to request an appointment.
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Lela Hubbard and Shantel Rodriguez
Shantel Rodriguez has been working in capital defense as a mitigation specialist since 2007. After receiving her JD from the City University of New York, she moved to Houston and began her mitigation career as a staff mitigation specialist at the Gulf Region Advocacy Center. She has been on teams for both federal and state pre- and post-conviction capital cases in Texas and Louisiana. At present, based in Lansing, Michigan, she is primarily involved with juvenile life without parole resentencings. Ms. Rodriguez is also a restorative justice practitioner, assisting with classes at the Ingham County Jail and as a facilitator with the Dispute Resolution Center of West Michigan. She most recently worked with pretrial defendants at the Ingham County Court and is currently pursuing a Professional Certificate in Restorative Justice with Vermont Law School.
Lela Hubbard, LMSW, received her master’s degree from Jackson State University School of Social Work in 1998, and continued to worked in both Behavioral Health and Family Services. From 2006-2020, she worked as a mitigation specialist in the MS Office of Capital Defense. Andre DeGruy took a chance by hiring Lela who had no experience as a Mitigation Specialist but a desire to learn and zeal for saving a person’s life.
Lela is a nationally certified Defense Victim Outreach (DVO) specialist who has assisted victims’ family members through capital trials and appeals as well as juvenile re-sentencing proceedings. Shortly before the pandemic in 2020, she took a leap of faith and went into private practice (Donelson Enterprises), focusing on federal capital trials, re-entry support for exonerees and long-termers, as well as DVO work across the United States. Lela has served as faculty at both local and national training conferences. Lela’s goal is to expand reentry services in Mississippi and increase the number of social workers of color involved in mitigation. Lastly, but definitely not least, Lela was chosen as the recipient of the 2021 Muhammed-White Award for her excellence in mitigation over the course of her career.
Registration for this call is now closed.
Ask a Mitigation Specialist, a resource program that allows defenders to meet directly and privately with a mitigation specialist for…
Amy Williams and Lela Hubbard
Ask a Mitigation Specialist, a resource program that allows defenders to meet directly and privately with a mitigation specialist for…
Ask a Mitigation Specialist, a resource program that allows defenders to meet directly and privately with a mitigation specialist for…
Lela Hubbard