NAPD Leadership Institute Indianapolis 2025

James Gerard McDermott lives in Alpine, TX with his four dogs . He is the foundingChief Public Defender of the Far West Texas Regional Public Defender. The programcovers five counties in Big Bend country, about 20,000 square miles—almost twicethe size of Maryland—with a population... Read More →

Heather Cessna has been the Executive Director of the Kansas State Board of Indigents' Defense Services since 2019. Prior to that, Ms. Cessna was a Deputy Appellate Defender, having worked in appellate public criminal defense in Kansas since 2003. Ms. Cessna has made revamping the... Read More →

DAVID DAVILA is the Chief Investigator for the Federal Public Defender, Western District of Texas. He began his career with the FPD WD of Texas in June of 1989. He has handled a wide variety of complex cases including, white collar fraud, drug, RICO, immigration, bank robbery, counterfeiting... Read More →