Mitigation Partners
Balancing the Scales of Justice
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(From the website of "Mitigation Partners")
http://www.mitigationpartners.com/_wsn/page2.html

Benefits of Using a Social Worker for
Mitigation
1. A social worker can obtain a psycho-social history that will provide the trial team with a great deal of information that can be used not only during the penalty phase of a trial, but also during the guilt/innocence phase.
2. The "helping" that is established between the social worker, the client and the client's family is a natural by-product of a thorough mitigation investigation and is extremely beneficial to all parties, including the defense team.
3. Theories and themes can be identified and solidly supported with the relevant facts and documentation that have been developed during the extensive investigation.
4. Lay witnesses can be identified and can provide testimony concerning the client's life experiences.
5. The trial team can avoid the damage that may result from a wide-ranging examination by a state-sponsored expert.
6. The lawyer/agent relationship between the trial team and the consulting expert is preserved and the confidentiality of work product is maintained.
7. The testifying expert can then focus on the most persuasive theories. This expert can take the results of all relevant information gathered during the investigation, tie it all together and explain its significance to the jurors so that they can understand why the client did what he/she did.
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Have you run into this bunch or at least the methods they advocate? The intent is that by refusing to present mental health evidence on the issue of future danger, the defense hopes to make some hay and "limit" the state's expert. I have run into this technique in the last three I've tried.