Margery M. Koosed, Co-Chair

Margery M. Koosed is the Aileen McMurray Trusler Professor Emeritus at The University of Akron School of Law. Her writing focuses on death penalty litigation issues. She teaches Criminal Law, Constitutional Criminal Procedure, and seminars in criminal process, capital punishment litigation and mistaken convictions.

Professor Koosed received her B.S., cum laude, from Miami University and J.D. from Case Western Reserve University. A member of the Akron Law faculty since 1974, she served initially as a Lecturer in Law and Coordinator of the Appellate Review/Legal Clinical Program, and later as a Visiting Professor at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law. Her bar admissions include the U.S. Supreme Court; the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit; the U.S. District Court for the Northern and Southern Districts of Ohio; and Ohio.

Professor Koosed is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the American Bar Association and the Ohio State Bar Association, and other professional associations. She served two terms as a commissioner on the State Public Defender Commission, chairing the State Public Defender Commission’s Committee on Capital Defense Counsel Qualifications. She recently served on the American Bar Association’s Ohio Death Penalty Assessment Team and previously served as coordinator of the Ohio Death Penalty Task Force. She has also served as a member of the Executive Committee of the Association of American Law Schools Section on Criminal Justice and as an acting judge of the South Euclid Municipal Court.

Professor Koosed is a frequent presenter on death penalty issues at litigation seminars and symposia.

Rev. Dr. Crystal Walker, Co-Chair

Rev. Dr. Crystal Walker has a Masters of Divinity degree from Payne Theological Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry degree from United Theological Seminary.  Crystal’s ministry focus is on women who have experienced domestic abuse, rape and/or incest. She is the founder of Pastors Against Domestic Violence, an ecumenical ministry that trains pastors to be courtroom advocates for victims of domestic violence (women, men and children). Crystal is also focused on many additional social injustices in the city of Dayton. She is also a strong advocate against the death penalty and for stricter gun laws. She lost her son Edward age 28 to gun violence.

Crystal is married to Rev. Shelby Walker and is the mother of (5) Children from a blended family, Tamica Mathews (Daytona Beach, FL), Edward Powers (deceased) and Frank Powers (Indianapolis, IN), Jonathan Walker (Indianapolis, IN), Jamie Walker (Indianapolis, IN) and the proud grandmother of (6) granddaughters (Amani, Lili’Anna, Faith, Kyndal, Symira and Justice) and (3) grandsons (Kingsley, Xavier and Phil).

Jonathan Mann, Vice Chair

Jack D’Aurora

Jack D’Aurora is a business lawyer with The Behal Law Group and a contributor to The Columbus Dispatch op-ed section. Jack has written about the enormous costs of the death penalty, why judges should be appointed and not elected, human trafficking, gun policy, payday loans and other legal and social justice issues.

In his law practice, Jack handles litigation matters involving contract and real estate disputes and other issues that arise in business relationships. He has successfully argued before the Ohio Supreme Court in Allen v. McBride.

A native of Steubenville, Ohio, Jack graduated from Notre Dame and was commissioned in the U.S. Navy in 1977.  He received his Naval Flight Officer wings in 1978 and was assigned to an F-14 squadron in San Diego in 1979. During two western Pacific deployments, he logged over 300 carrier-arrested landings aboard the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk. He obtained his law degree from Georgetown.

Jack‘s wife, Debbie, is a nurse executive, and they have four adult children.

Michael Hartley

Michael Hartley is the President of Swing State Strategies, where he utilizes his over two decades of political, policy/issue, public relations and corporate experience to work with clients on their public affairs, policy issue and political strategy needs.

Most recently, Hartley spent over four years as the Vice President of Government Relations for the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, where he led the advocacy effort at the local, state and federal levels on behalf of the Central Ohio business community.

Prior to his time with the Chamber, Hartley spent over thirteen years developing a reputation as one of the best political operatives in Ohio, serving a leadership role in a number of high-profile campaigns and government offices. His roles included: Ohio Campaign Manager for New Day for America, the Super PAC supporting Governor John Kasich, for the 2016 Ohio Republican Primary; Director of Public Liaison and Senior Staff member for Governor John Kasich where he directed all outreach efforts from the Governor’s Office; five Ohio statewide campaigns, including as Deputy Campaign Manager for Kasich Taylor for Ohio in 2010, Campaign Manager for Stivers for Congress in 2008 and Ohio Political Director for Bush/Cheney re-election in 2004; as well as serving in director positions in the Attorney General’s and Auditor of State’s Office.

Hartley received his Bachelor of Arts degree in History and Secondary Education from Baldwin-Wallace University.  He lives in Circleville with his wife Samantha and two children, Xavier and Sofia.

David Stebbins

David Stebbins recently retired after 12 years at the Capital Habeas Unit in Columbus. Stebbins spent 15 years in private practice litigating capital cases, two years at the Capital Case Resource Center of Tennessee, and 10 years as the first Director of Death Penalty Litigation Section of the Ohio Public Defenders Office. Stebbins received his law degree from the Cleveland Marshall College of Law and received his Masters of Arts in History from Cleveland State.