The Criminal Justice System and Latinos: Perspectives from Latino
Attorneys Engaging the System
As the Latino population grows larger in the
United States every year, the community’s interaction with the criminal justice
system continues to be an alarming issue. The war on drugs, stop-and-frisk
policies, and federal immigration enforcement have disparately and negatively
impacted the Latino community, leading to a reported disturbing lack of
confidence that the criminal justice system will treat Latina/os fairly. To
exacerbate matters, Latina/os are severely underrepresented in the courtroom as
judges, law clerks, defense lawyers, and prosecutors. This panel will
discuss this tension with the criminal justice system, and strategies on how to
improve the relationship. Panelists will include a judge, a public defender, a
prosecutor, and an attorney at a large law firm who works on criminal defense
matters on a pro bono basis. The panelists will address the
challenges they have faced as Latina/o legal professionals in the criminal
justice system, and share their perspectives on how their work impacts the
Latina/o community.
Panelists
Michael Pineiro, Senior Supervising Attorney, Legal Aid Criminal
Defense Division
Michael A.
Pineiro is a Supervising Attorney at The Legal Aid Society’s Criminal Practice
in Queens County, New York. He received his Juris Doctor Degree from New York
University School of Law and graduated Magna Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa from
Fordham University. With over 25 years of litigation and managerial experience,
he has been responsible for second-seating trials, case management, and all
managerial duties pertinent to the running of a large criminal litigation
office. Prior to
supervising the Queens County Office, Mr. Pineiro was a Supervising Attorney at
the Legal Aid Society’s Training Unit teaching hearing and trial tactics as
well as developing continuing legal education curricula. He has also been a
diversity training instructor and recruitment coordinator. Mr. Pineiro
is a member of the Puerto Rican Bar Association, Latino Justice PRLDEF, Latino
Lawyers Association of Queens County as well as other Bar Associations. He has
lectured at various law firms on criminal litigation and has been a guest
lecturer for PALS (Practicing Attorneys for Law Students). He is admitted to
practice in the Courts of New York as well as in the Federal Court’s Southern
and Eastern Districts of New York.
Emilio Estela, Assistant District Attorney, New York City District
Attorney’s Office
Emilio Estela graduated from Cornell Law School in 1985, where he
co-founded the Latino American Law Students Association, and where he received
the Freeman Civil-Human Rights Award. After law school, he was appointed
as an Assistant District Attorney in the Manhattan District Attorney’s
Office. In the 25 years since, he has investigated and prosecuted a wide
variety of cases, and has served as criminal court supervisor and senior
supervising attorney. He is currently a deputy bureau chief. Mr. Estela
has been an Adjunct Professor of Latin American and Latino Studies at
Fordham University for the past 22 years. For two years, he ran New York
University Law School’s prosecution clinic. In 2003, he received a Public
Service Award from the New York County Lawyers Association. In 2007-2008,
Mr. Estela was a Wasserstein Public Interest Fellow at Harvard Law School.
Honorable Rita Mella
– NY Criminal Court
Rita Mella has been a judge in the Manhattan
Criminal Court for more than four years.
After graduating from CUNY Law School, she worked for a small firm
concentrating on a criminal defense practice.
After that, and for more than 13 years, she worked as a law clerk in the
New York State Unified Court System.
During those 13 years, she worked in many different courts: Civil Court,
Family Court, Criminal Court, Supreme Court and Surrogate’s Court. Judge Mella was elected to the Civil Court
bench in November of 2006 and has been assigned to the Criminal Court since the
beginning of her term. She presides over
the controlled substances part of the court, where all the misdemeanor drug
cases are heard. She also presides over
the Manhattan Misdemeanor Treatment Court.
Juan Arteaga – Senior Litigation Associate at Simpson Thacher &
Barlett LLP
Juan
A. Arteaga graduated from Columbia Law School in 2002, where he was a Harlan
Fiske Stone Scholar and a Managing Editor of the Columbia law Review. After graduating, Mr. Arteaga clerked for
Judge Roger L. Gregory of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth
Circuit. Mr. Arteaga is a senior
litigation associate at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP where he primarily
focuses on securities litigation (including class actions and shareholder
derivative actions), government and internal investigations, international
arbitrations and complex commercial litigation.
Mr. Arteaga has done extensive pro bono work which has resulted in his
being honored by various public service organizations, including the Legal Aid
Society and inMotion. He has served as
pro bono counsel for immigrants facing deportation due to prior criminal
convictions, and for New York State inmates in state court appeals and federal
habeas proceedings. In 2010, Mr. Arteaga
successfully obtained a federal habeas petition vacating an inmate’s murder
conviction and twenty-two year to life sentence. In 2011, Mr. Arteaga was appointed to the
Criminal Justice Act panel for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
where he serves as appointed counsel for indigent defendants appealing their
convictions. Mr. Arteaga chairs the New
York City Bar Association’s Minorities in the Courts Committee and serves on
the advisory boards for several non-profit organizations. Mr. Arteaga received his B.A., magna cum
laude, from Boston College where he was a recipient of the Archbishop Oscar
Romero Scholarship.
Moderator
Fabio
Arcila, Jr., Professor, Touro Law School
Professor Arcila joined the Touro faculty in 2004. His scholarship, which has been published in the William & Mary Law Review, the Boston College Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law, and the Administrative Law Review,
focuses upon Fourth Amendment search and seizure law, with a general
emphasis upon civil searches and, to date, a concentration
upon originalism. He has drawn upon his litigation background to
participate as pro bono counsel in United States Supreme Court
litigation at the certiorari stage in several Fourth Amendment
cases. He obtained his law degree from the University of California at
Berkeley, where he was a La Raza co-chair and an associate editor of
the La Raza Law Journal and a member of the California Law Review.
He has worked as a staff attorney for a Legal Services office in
Michigan; clerked for both the Honorable Julian Abele Cook, Jr. on the
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan and
for the Honorable Julio M. Fuentes on the United States Court of Appeals
for the Third Circuit; and been a litigation associate at Fried Frank
in New York City. He is active in service and professional activities
such as the Northeast People of Color Legal Scholarship Conference and
the Hispanic National Bar Association, New York Region. He is admitted
to the New York bar and is a former member of the Michigan bar.
