The Racial Justice Act (CA): Challenging Racial Bias in Criminal Cases

Lisa Romo

Lisa Romo has been at the Office of the State Public Defender (OSPD) since 2013, where she previously worked from 1989-1993. At OSPD, Lisa was Director of Systemic Issues Litigation for capital cases from 2020-2022. In May 2022, she moved to OSPD’s new Indigent Defense Improvement Division (IDID), working primarily on issues relating to the California Racial Justice Act (AB 2542) and criminal street gangs, including STEP Act reform (AB 333). Lisa was in private practice from 1999-2013, representing capital clients in post-conviction litigation at the state and federal levels, as well as juveniles in their delinquency appeals. She was a staff attorney at the California Appellate Project from 1995-1999. She received her J.D. from Berkeley Law in 1987.

Genevie Gold

Genevie Gold is a Capital Racial Justice Act Research and Writing Fellow at the Office of the State Public Defender in Oakland, California. In this role, she assists capital appellate case teams in identifying and preparing claims under the Racial Justice Act. Before OSPD, she was an associate at Phillips Black, Inc., a non-profit, where she represented clients serving severe sentences, including death and juvenile life without parole (JLWOP), in post-conviction litigation. Ms. Gold is also a mitigation specialist who has prepared mitigation investigations for JLWOP and capital cases nationwide. Her passion for capital work was borne in the visitation rooms of the Potosi Correctional Center and the backroads of the Ozarks. She is motivated by the challenge of working effectively in diverse teams to weave together the complex themes that make up our clients’ stories. She is also interested in how defense practitioners can develop relationships with the communities they serve to support holistic, anti-racist defense, and the greater goal of abolition. She graduated from Tufts University in 2008 and received her J.D. from Boston University School of Law in 2014.