WDA’s Cindy Arends Elsberry is available to help with your post conviction cases.

Cindy Arends Elsberry (she/her) is WDA’s Resentencing Resource Attorney. She joined WDA in 2009, after working as a staff attorney as a public defender in King County for 14 years. Cindy has worked in public defense her entire legal career and has represented clients in all types of criminal cases including misdemeanors, misdemeanor appeals, mental health court, juvenile court criminal and truancy cases, and all levels of felony cases, from low level property crimes to capital and non-capital aggravated murder.   Cindy is passionate about criminal justice reform and improving the way individuals with intellectual disability or mental illness are treated when they come into contact with the criminal justice system.

Every client is more than what led up to their criminal charge. Every client has a story to tell. I am here to help you put that story forward and obtain the best possible outcome for your clients.
You can reach Cindy by calling WDA or emailing cindy@defensenet.org

WDA’s Post-Conviction Case Assistance for Redemption Project of Washington: How it works

Cindy can help with your public defense post-conviction and resentencing cases in a variety of ways:

• Helping spot issues that may benefit your clients in resentencings for youthfulness under Domingo-Cornelio and Ali, Monschke and Bartholomew, and other case law developments;
• Providing technical assistance around resentencing options under Washington State law such as 6164 (prosecutor lead resentencing), Robbery in the Second Degree no longer a strike under the Persistent Offender Accountability Act (SB 5164), and State v. Blake;
• Shaping arguments for may arise during resentencing hearings;
• Researching substantive and procedural issues;
• Brainstorming sentencing and mitigation strategies;
• Identifying and working with experts for mitigation, release planning, and juvenile development;
• Providing sample motions, forms and practice advisories; and
• Researching and analyzing ethical issues;
• Members can also search our resource library for practice advisories and briefs related to resentencing and post-conviction matters.

Trainings, resources, and more can be found here Post Conviction/Resentencing Resource