January/February 2026

January/February 2026 Cover

What are the emotional reactions of clients facing charges and overwhelming evidence? How can defense counsel help clients participate meaningfully under these circumstances??

 

Articles in this Issue

  1. Affiliate News

    What events are NACDL affiliates hosting this month? Find out here.

    Jessica Stepan

  2. Bacillus Criminalis: Why Defense Attorneys Should Consider Auto-Brewery Syndrome

    Thirty years ago, an auto-brewery syndrome defense strategy was considered laughable. What is it? Auto-brewery syndrome involves food fermenting in a person’s stomach and producing ethanol – the same alcohol found in alcoholic drinks.

    Alan C. Logan, M.SC., N.D., Barbara Cordell, R.N., Ph.D., and Steve Oberman, J.D.

  3. Book Review: Alan Ellis’ Federal Prison Guidebook by Alan Ellis, Mark H. Allenbaugh, and Walt Pavlo

    This month Deborah J. Blum reviews Alan Ellis’ Federal Prison Guidebook: Prison, Sentencing, and Post-Conviction Remedies (2025-2026 ed.) by Alan Ellis, Mark H. Allenbaugh, and Walt Pavlo.

    Deborah J. Blum

  4. Defending Criminal Customs & Trade Fraud Charges: Department of Justice’s New White Collar Priority

    Criminal customs and trade fraud prosecutions have become a high priority for the Department of Justice. What will these prosecutions look like? Fortunately, people charged with customs and trade fraud have substantial room to raise defenses.

    Jay Schleppenbach

  5. From the President: Navigating the Ethical Edge — AI in Criminal Defense Practice

    Artificial intelligence presents ethical challenges that uniquely affect criminal defense lawyers. Defense advocates must embrace tools that can enhance advocacy while resisting those that threaten due process, privacy, and the presumption of innocence.

    Andrew S. Birrell

  6. Limiting the Government’s Ability to Impeach Clients with Prior Convictions

    ‘Substantial’ Developments to Federal Rule of Evidence 609

    Judges often allow prosecutors to impeach testifying criminal defendants with prior felony convictions unrelated to dishonesty under FRE 609. Fortunately, the Advisory Committee on Evidence Rules has proposed an amendment to the rules that would strengthen the admissibility test, making it harder for the government to use marginally probative convictions to impeach a testifying defendant.

    Rene L. Valladares and Hannah Nelson

  7. Memory & Perception: Cross-Race Identification: Well Known but Not Well Understood

    The Cross-Race Effect is one of the factors that shapes the reliability of eyewitness identification. It refers to the fact that a person is less likely to be identified correctly if that person is of a different race from the observer.

    Kathy Pezdek and Daniel Reisberg

  8. NACDL Takes on Criminalization of Maternal Healthcare at Annual Summit

    What are the legal and cultural forces driving pregnancy criminalization?

    Jessie Diamond and Monica Milton

  9. The Stages of Grief in Criminal Defense: Guiding Clients Through Legal Reality

    Criminal charges constitute a crisis for most defendants, and their emotional reactions mirror the classic stages of grief – denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Actions that might otherwise feel like client obstinance or disengagement may be part of the grief process.

    Jay Ruane