Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ Services Council

Spring Institute 2021
2021-04-12 - 2021-04-14 | Online, ONLINE
The Spring Institute program agenda is a multi-track continuing legal education program offering up to 18 hours of live MCLE credits, emphasizing ethics, recent legislative enactments, recent judicial decisions, current developments in criminal law. Attendance is open to all Virginia prosecutors.
For more information, contact Elliott J. Casey at ejcasey@wm.edu or 757-585-4370.
Click here to register for 2021 Spring Institute by 5:00 PM, April 9, 2021

Council Meeting
2021-04-11 13:00, 2021-02-16 11:00, 2020-12-02 09:00, 2020-11-04 12:00 - 13:00, 2020-08-12 12:00 - 13:00, 2020-07-29 09:00 - 10:00 (America/New_York) | Conference Call, Conference Call, United States

I.M.P.A.C.T., Training for the Juvenile & Domestic Relations Prosecutor: Initiating Meaningful Prosecution at Critical Times
2021-03-08 - 2021-03-09 | Online, ONLINE
A two day intensive training for Virginia J&DR prosecutors. The program focuses on juvenile court practice & procedure and dealing with juvenile delinquency. Specific topics to be covered include juvenile brain development, juvenile trials & sentencing options, DJJ length of stay guidelines, substance abuse and juveniles, transfer/certification issues, juvenile sex-offenders and competency issues. Registration for this program closes at 5 p.m. on March 3, 2021.
For more information, contact Nancy Oglesby at noglesby@wm.edu or 757-943-9753.
Registration for this program is now closed.

Webinar: Criminalizing Bystanders and Enablers
2021-03-03 13:00 - 14:30 | Online, ONLINE
Instructor: Amos N. Guiora,
Amos N. Guiora is Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah. He is actively involved in bystander legislation efforts in Utah and other states around the country.
Professor Guiora has an A.B. in history from Kenyon College, a J.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and a Ph.D from Leiden University. He has published extensively both in the United States and Europe on issues related to national security, limits of interrogation, religion and terrorism, the limits of power, multiculturalism, and human rights.
His books include Armies of Enablers: Survivor Stories of Complicity and Betrayal in Sexual Assaults (2020); Five Words That Changed America: Miranda v. Arizona and the Right to Remain Silent (2020); Populist and Islamist Challenges for International Law (2019); The Crime of Complicity: The Bystander in the Holocaust (2017); Earl Warren, Ernesto Miranda and Terrorism (2018); Tolerating Intolerance: The Price of Protecting Extremism (2014); and Freedom from Religion: Rights and National Security (2009).
Professor Guiora is a Distinguished Fellow at The Consortium for the Research and Study of Holocaust and the Law (CRSHL), Chicago-Kent College of Law, and a Distinguished Fellow and Counselor at the International Center for Conflict Resolution, Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh.
Session Description:
Professor Guiora’s presentation is based on his interviews with survivors of sexual assault from USA Gymnastics, Michigan State University, Ohio State University, and the Catholic Church, plus thousands of pages of Grand Jury indictments, civil lawsuits, criminal prosecutions, special reports, and media accounts. As in his book Armies of Enablers: Survivor Stories of Complicity and Betrayal in Sexual Assaults, he focuses not on what the sexual predators did to them, but on how the institutions and individuals allowed it to happen.
He will discuss the criminalization of bystanders and enablers, which reflects recognition that failure to aggressively prosecute those who acted by not acting ensures perpetrators will continue to act with impunity and immunity. That is the direct consequence of failing to act on behalf of survivors. In advocating criminalization of bystanders-enablers, the underlying premise is that they owe a duty to the person in peril. Efforts to protect require penalizing all those who directly and indirectly contributed to that harm. It is for that reason that criminalizing the bystander-enabler is warranted.
This webinar is open to Virginia prosecutors, law enforcement and victim witness advocates housed in a police department or Commonwealth’s Attorneys’ office
Click here to register by 5pm March 2, 2021

Prosecutor Bootcamp: A Comprehensive Training for the New Prosecutor
2021-02-22 - 2021-02-25 | Online, ONLINE
A 4 day intensive training for the new prosecutor. This program is open to Virginia prosecutors with three years or less experience. Specific topics to be covered include trial skills, evidentiary issues, practice in General District and Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court, work-life balance, and legal writing, among others.
For more information, contact Nancy Oglesby at noglesby@wm.edu or 757-943-9753.
Click here to register for this program.

Webinar: Daylight Search Warrant Requirement - 2021 Change to Virginia Law
2021-02-17 14:00 - 15:30 | Online, ONLINE
The Virginia General Assembly amended Va. Code § 19.2-56 during the Special Session in 2021 to limit search warrant service to the “daytime.” This amendment, which takes effect March 1, 2021, has raised several questions from law enforcement. Join our webinar, where we will address questions like: “To what warrants does this apply?” “What is “daytime?” “What about warrants for phones?” What about warrants for electronic or financial records?” “How do we obtain a judicial authorization to serve a warrant after dark?”.
This webinar is open to Virginia prosecutors and law-enforcement. There will be no MCLE or PIC-3 credit, this webinar is for information only.
Click here to register by 5pm February 16, 2021

Investigation and Prosecution of Intimate Partner Violence ("Guns and Roses")
2021-02-15 - 2021-02-18 | Online, ONLINE
CASC is offering an intensive 4-day training for Virginia prosecutors and law enforcement on investigating and prosecuting intimate partner violence. This course will cover IPV dynamics, investigation and prosecution strategies, strangulation, prosecuting cases with uncooperative victims, forfeiture by wrongdoing and more.
For more information, contact Nancy Oglesby at noglesby@wm.edu or 757-943-9753.
Click here to register for this program.

Webinar: Social Media Evidence: Authenticating and Admitting
2021-02-11 14:00 - 15:30 | Online, ONLINE
Instructor: Jonathan Holbrook,
Jonathan Holbrook joined the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government in 2017 as the School’s first-ever Prosecutor Educator. Jonathan previously worked as a prosecutor for nearly ten years, both in state court with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office and in federal court with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Jonathan earned his B.A. from Northwestern University, and his J.D. with Honors from UNC Chapel Hill School of Law. Jonathan writes and updates legal entries for NC PRO, the new online criminal procedure resource for North Carolina prosecutors, as well as the NC Criminal Law Blog, and he provides assistance, consultation, and training to prosecutors on a wide variety of issues.
Session Description:
Threatening messages, damaging admissions, incriminating photos – prosecutors know how valuable social media evidence can be in a criminal trial. But as the technology advances and new platforms emerge, it’s not always clear what the requirements are for authenticating and admitting this type of evidence. This presentation offers a simple framework for approaching all social media evidence based on how and where it was obtained, whether found online or downloaded from a server, and then works through the best answers to the most common defense objections to admitting the evidence. This presentation also discusses relevant Virginia case law and applies the rules and arguments in context to illustrate how this approach is applied successfully to each type of evidence.
This webinar is open to Virginia prosecutors.
Click here to register by 5pm February 10, 2021

Red Flag: Touch of Grey - Elder Financial and Insurance Fraud
2021-02-08 - 2021-02-11 | Online, ONLINE
This program, which is part of our annual program in partnership with the Virginia State Police and the Virginia insurance industry, will focus on elder financial and insurance fraud. It will feature speakers from multiple disciplines, including expert prosecutors, law enforcement officers, and insurance special investigators, and feature instruction by Paul Greenwood, a nationally-recognized prosecutor and instructor who presented at our 2020 annual summer conference to rave reviews.
Topics will include many aspects of elder fraud and financial abuse, including fraud law, construction fraud, ethics, obtaining financial records and working with financial institutions, social media investigations, and effective interviews and interrogations.
This program is open to Virginia prosecutors, Virginia State Police, and Virginia insurance SIU investigators. There is a 28 person limit for this program.
For more information, contact Elliott Casey at ejcasey@wm.edu.
Click here to register for this program.

Advanced DUI Training for Law Enforcement and Prosecutors
2021-02-02 - 2021-02-04 | Online, ONLINE
The February 2021 Advanced DUI Online Program will be held Tuesday, February 2nd at 9:00 a.m. through Thursday, February 4th at 2:45 p.m. Topics to be covered during this intensive training include Investigative Stops, Checkpoints, Blood Testing Issues, and DUI Manslaughter.
This program is open to Virginia prosecutors and law enforcement.
For more information, contact Jake Lambert at jrlambert@wm.edu or 757-775-2799.
Click here to register: Advanced DUI Training 2021
This program is offered twice per year. The next Advanced DUI Training will take place in August 2021.

Council Meeting
2021-01-26 11:00, 2020-09-23 12:00 - 13:00 | Truist Place, 12th Floor, Richmond, VA

Webinar: Threats on Social Media
2021-01-21 14:00 - 15:30 | Online, ONLINE
Instructor: Jonathan Holbrook,
Jonathan Holbrook joined the UNC Chapel Hill School of Government in 2017 as the School’s first-ever Prosecutor Educator. Jonathan previously worked as a prosecutor for nearly ten years, both in state court with the Wake County District Attorney’s Office and in federal court with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Jonathan earned his B.A. from Northwestern University, and his J.D. with Honors from UNC Chapel Hill School of Law. Jonathan writes and updates legal entries for NC PRO, the new online criminal procedure resource for North Carolina prosecutors, as well as the NC Criminal Law Blog, and he provides assistance, consultation, and training to prosecutors on a wide variety of issues.
Session Description:
The use of social media has exploded in recent years, and nearly 70% of U.S. adults now report using social media for around 2 hours each day. As recent events have starkly illustrated, this makes social media one of the most common platforms for everything from humor to political discussion to dangerous threats. Prosecutors must be able to identify and distinguish protected speech from “true threats” that violate the law. This presentation uses precedent from the U.S. Supreme Court and Virginia appellate courts to explain the key factors that separate free speech from threats on social media, and uses examples pulled from the case law to apply those factors to real-world scenarios and discuss why they would or would not constitute a “true threat.”
This webinar is open to Virginia prosecutors.
Click here to register by 5pm January 20, 2021

CASC Finance Committee Meeting
2020-12-17 10:00 - 11:00 | Conference Call, Conference Call, United States

Executive Program
2020-12-02 - 2020-12-03 | Online, ONLINE
The Executive Program is a training seminar devoted to management issues, with attendance restricted to the 120 elected Commonwealth’s Attorneys and management level attorneys. The program addresses leadership skills, office management, case management, employment practices and personnel issues, police relations, press and public relations and other topics important to prosecutors in leadership positions. The VACA annual meeting will be held on Friday, December 4.
For more information, contact Elliott J. Casey at ejcasey@wm.edu or 757-585-4370.
Click here to register for the Executive Program by 5PM December 2, 2020.

Murder Two: Advanced Homicide Prosecution
2020-11-11 - 2020-11-14 | Hotel 24 South, Staunton, VA, United States
A four-day training program for approximately 25 prosecutors on advanced homicide prosecution skills to include Ethics: Discovery, Exculpatory Evidence. The training will examine difficult challenges in homicide cases, including child homicides, multi-defendant cases, no-body and cold cases. This training will also examine advanced issues such as mental health defenses and capital cases. Previous attendance at one of CASC’s Homicide programs is a pre-requisite, unless CASC permission is granted.
Lodging at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel, Staunton (for attendees whose offices are more than twenty-five miles from the venue) and all meals will be provided or reimbursed, but mileage to and from the program will not covered.
For more information, contact Elliott J. Casey at ejcasey@wm.edu or 757-585-4370.
Registration for Murder Two: Advanced Homicide Prosecution is full.

Trial Advocacy Program
2020-11-08 - 2020-11-13 | Fort Magruder Hotel, Williamsburg, VA
The Trial Advocacy Program scheduled for November 8-13, 2020 has been cancelled. The Program will be offered June 13-18, 2021, registration will open in spring of 2021.

The Trial Advocacy Program is an intensive five-day program offered for Commonwealth’s Attorneys and their Assistants at all levels of experience, offering approximately 25 CLE hours. Attendees spend approximately 8 hours at lectures and demonstrations given by prosecutors and physicians covering medical, legal and tactical aspects of the prosecution of child abusers, focusing on abusive head trauma cases. The remaining time is spent in small workshop groups discussing and practicing case analysis, trial strategy, opening statements, direct examination, cross-examination and closing argument in the context of a hypothetical abusive head trauma case. Attendees will be assigned to workshop groups. Wednesday afternoon is free time. Classes are held at the William and Mary Law School and lodging is provided for students whose offices are more than 25 miles from the training venue. Attendance is limited to 40 students. All meals are provided or reimbursed at the state per diem rate. Travel to and from the training is not covered.
ACCEPTANCE IS BY APPLICATION ONLY. Upon completion of the online registration a link to download an application will be emailed to you to be completed and returned to CASC.
For more information, contact Larry Martin at Lamar3@wm.edu

Murder One: Basic Homicide Prosecution
2020-11-08 - 2020-11-11 | Hotel 24 South, Staunton, VA, United States
A four-day training program for approximately 30 prosecutors on essential homicide prosecution skills to include Ethics: Discovery, Exculpatory Evidence. The training will cover all aspects of preparing and trying a successful homicide case from voir dire to closing argument. Emphasis will be on investigations and working with witnesses, evidence gathering and presentation, preparation of expert witnesses and forensics as well as meeting common defenses including alibi, NGRI, misidentifications, causation of death and self-defense.
Lodging at the Stonewall Jackson Hotel, Staunton (for attendees whose offices are more than twenty-five miles from the venue) and all meals, will be provided or reimbursed but mileage to and from the program will not covered.
For more information, contact Elliott J. Casey at ejcasey@wm.edu or 757-585-4370.
Registration for Murder One is full!

Webinar: Cognitive and Implicit Bias
2020-10-22 13:00 - 14:30 | Online, ONLINE
“Bias: What You Don’t Know Can Hurt Others.”
This webinar presented by Jarvis Parsons will delve into both cognitive and implicit bias. Mr. Parsons is the elected District Attorney in Brazos County, Texas. Speaking from a prosecutor’s perspective, Mr. Parsons will discuss several topics such as confirmation bias and how personal perceptions of individuals affect our work and the choices we make. He discusses the importance of prosecutors consistently evaluating how we make decisions in the areas of charging, prosecution and sentencing and will share current research in this area. Mr. Jarvis will also share some of his personal background which lays a foundation for his passion in this area.
Click here to register by 5pm October 21, 2020

Trauma to Trial
2020-10-05 - 2020-10-09 | Hotel 24 South, Staunton, VA, United States
CASC again is offering an intensive 5-day training for 12 prosecutor/law enforcement teams on the topic of investigating and prosecuting adult non-stranger sexual assaults. Learn how to keep your victim on board through trial. Learn how to get the evidence you need to overcome the consent defense. Find out the real truth about false reports. The program is free. Lodging for attendees whose offices are more than twenty-five miles from the training site and parking will be provided and meals will be reimbursed at state per diem rates. Mileage is NOT covered and will be the attendee’s responsibility.
Space is limited to 12 teams. Teams are to be comprised of one prosecutor and one investigator from the same jurisdiction. Since there have been substantial changes to the content of this course, anyone who attended prior to 2014 may re-apply if they wish to attend again.
ACCEPTANCE IS BY APPLICATION ONLY. Upon completion of the online registration a link to download an application will be emailed to both team members to be completed and returned to CASC, NO LATER THAN MAY 22, 2020 to be considered for acceptance into this training.
Registration for Trauma to Trial is now closed.

Sound of Silence (Child Abuse)
2020-09-27 - 2020-10-02 | Hotel 24 South, Staunton, VA, United States
CASC is offering an intensive 5-day training for 10 prosecutor/law enforcement/cps teams on investigating and prosecuting child abuse. This course will cover child disclosure issues, investigation and prosecution strategies, working as an MDT, identifying abusive injuries, vicarious trauma and more. The program is free. Lodging for attendees whose offices are more than twenty-five miles from the training site and parking will be provided, and meals will be reimbursed at state per diem rates. Mileage is NOT covered and will be the attendee’s responsibility.
Space is limited to 10 teams. Teams are to be comprised of one prosecutor, one investigator and one child protective services worker from the same jurisdiction.
ACCEPTANCE IS BY APPLICATION ONLY. Upon completion of the online registration you will receive an emailed confirmation which includes a link to download the application to be completed and returned to CASC.
For more information, contact Nancy Oglesby at noglesby@wm.edu or 757-943-9753.

Investigation and Prosecution of Gang Cases: An Online Introduction
2020-09-14 12:00 - 2020-09-16 17:00 | Online, ONLINE
Because Gang Busters VIII, a week-long intensive team training for prosecutors and law enforcement, was cancelled due to COVID-19 complications, the Gang Buster Faculty will offer this 15 hour online training. The program will be from noon – 5:00 pm September 14, 15, and 16, 2020 and will be a basic introduction for anyone interested in investigating and prosecuting gang cases and in eventually attending the full week-long Gang Busters training.
Click here to register by 5pm September 11, 2020

Investigation and Prosecution of Gang Cases ("Gang Busters VIII")
2020-09-13 - 2020-09-18 | Williamsburg, VA
This Gang Busters training was CANCELLED. Gang Busters will be offered September 12-17 , 2021. Teams who were accepted for 2020 will be given priority if they re-apply for the September 2021 training..
Gang Busters is an intensive, workshop-style, interactive training course on the prosecution of gang cases, similar to TOP GUN one of CASC’s longest running programs. Attendance is limited to 20 teams, each of which consists of a prosecutor and a law enforcement investigator from a given jurisdiction. This program covers the latest developments in the law, the criminal practices used, an exercise in qualifying as a gang expert and the latest developments in gang investigation and prosecution. The training will be held in Williamsburg. This is a five day program. There is no tuition: housing, private rooms, for attendees whose offices are more than twenty-five miles from the training site and all meals are provided or reimbursed. Mileage to and from the training is not covered.
ACCEPTANCE IS BY APPLICATION ONLY. Upon completion of the online registration by both team members, a link to download an application will be emailed to each team member to be completed and returned to CASC.
For more information, contact Larry Martin at Lamar3@wm.edu or 757-253-4612.

Visual Trial
2020-08-10 - 2020-08-13 | William and Mary Law School, Williamsburg, VA
Visual Trial program is an intensive 4-day training for prosecutors focused on using technology in the courtroom. Learn how to use technology in courtroom presentations, including iPads, PowerPoints, and customized trial presentation tools such as crime scene software. Training will include digital management of exhibits and evidence in complicated trials and features hands-on, practical exercises. The program is free and open to all skill levels of Virginia Commonwealth’s Attorneys, their deputies and assistants.The training will be held at the William and Mary Law School with lodging provided for attendees whose offices are more than twenty-five miles from the training site and parking will be provided and meals will be reimbursed at state per diem rates. Mileage is NOT covered and will be the attendee’s responsibility.
For more information, contact Elliott J. Casey at ejcasey@wm.edu or 757-585-4370.
Visual Trial will not be held in 2020.

Annual Summer Conference
2020-07-27 - 2020-07-28 | Online, ONLINE
The VACA 81st Annual Summer Conference has been cancelled. CASC will now offer the training portion of the conference online.

This single-track continuing legal education program offering up to 12.0 MCLE credits is open to all Virginia prosecutors.
Click here to register by 5pm Friday, July 24, 2020
For more information, contact Jane Chambers at jscham@wm.edu or 757-253-4146.
