Event Description:

Experienced Commitment Appeal Panel (CAP) attorneys will provide an overview of the statutory basis, burdens, and practice procedures for hearings before the three Judge CAP Panels. The CLE will offer an introduction to the Minnesota Sex Offender Program (MSOP) and the reduction in custody process under Minn. Stat. 253D, including the various forms of reduction in custody, the proceedings before the Special Review Board (SRB), and an overview of the CAP proceedings, including the need for court appointed counsel and what the Panel generally expects from counsel in CAP proceedings.

Our Presenters:

Jennifer Thon works at the Jones Law Office, a small, general practice law firm in Mankato.  She represents clients in all types of civil commitment proceedings and at all stages of the proceedings.  She works in numerous counties across the state, but primarily in greater Minnesota.  Jen has been doing this kind of work for just over 14 years.  She attended Minnesota State University Moorhead and received a B.A. in criminal justice, with an emphasis in psychology and sociology and a minor in sociology.  She received her JD from the University of North Dakota School of Law. 

Aaron Winter received his JD from Vanderbilt University Law School and has worked as an Assistant Attorney General in the Human Services Division of the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office since 2014.  Prior to working at the AGO, he worked as a law clerk on the Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals and as an Assistant Attorney General in Tennessee.