NATIONAL CRIMINAL DEFENSE COLLEGE FACULTY

Kevann A. Gardner, Esq. is an experienced trial attorney who has practiced for over 11 years serving indigent clients in felony and misdemeanor cases. He currently specializes in litigating murder, attempted murder, and first-degree sexual assault cases as a supervising attorney in the Trial Division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (‘PDS’).

Mr. Gardner began working at PDS in 2005 as a criminal defense investigator. Before starting his current supervisory role, Mr. Gardner served as a law clerk, a staff attorney, a hiring committee member, and the organization’s client intake representative. He also worked as a public defender at the Legal Aid Society in the Bronx, New York, handling misdemeanor and felony cases. He currently teaches in trial advocacy programs at Harvard Law School, the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, the National Criminal Defense College (NCDC), and the Defender Institute Basic Trials Skills Program for the New York State Defenders Association. He is also an adjunct professor at the American University Washington College of Law.

Mr. Gardner was born and raised in Detroit, MI. He earned his B.A. from Oakwood University in Huntsville, AL and his J.D. from the Cardozo School of Law in New York, NY. During law school, Mr. Gardner worked for the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, the New York State Assembly Subcommittee on Election Day Operations and Voter Disenfranchisement, and clerked for the Honorable Cheryl E. Chambers in the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court.

Kyana Givens is the current Federal Public Defender for the Districts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. Kyana became a Federal Public Defender in the Eastern District of North Carolina in 2020 after being a Visiting Attorney Advisor, Defender Services Office, Training Division, from August 2018-December 2019. She previously served as a trial attorney at The Federal Public Defender for the Western District of Washington since 2009 and a state public defender with the King County Public Defender (TDA) in 2005. Ms. Givens has been committed to mentoring and teaching other defenders throughout her practice. As the Albert M. Sacks Fellow at Harvard Law School, Ms. Givens worked closely with Clinical Professors teaching and training in trial advocacy.

While at Harvard, she represented adult and juvenile clients being served by CJI and provided litigation support to Prof. Charles J. Ogletree, Jr. on criminal and Civil Rights matters. Ms. Givens’ dedication to teaching and mentoring extends beyond the legal community. She has also taught Constitutional Law to undergraduate students at Seattle University. A graduate of Northeastern University School of Law (Boston, MA), Ms. Givens earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Seattle Pacific University (Seattle, WA).

Ms. Givens is a faculty member at The National Criminal Defense College (NCDC) in Macon, Georgia, she is also on the Faculty for the Trial Skills Academy for Federal Defenders and she regularly speaks at CLEs about trials skills, emerging digital technology in criminal cases and unconscious bias.

She is the proud mother of two boys, her weakness is ice cream, and enjoys travel, camping, county fairs, and any sandy beach.

Andres R. Guevara has been a trial attorney since graduating from the George Washington University National Law Center in 1995. Out of his Denver office, Andres handles both private and court-appointed criminal work in various
Colorado state courts (through the Office of the Alternate Defense Counsel (“ADC”)) and in federal courts (through the CJA Panel). Since starting his own law firm in 2007, Andres has handled and tried every type of criminal case, from
homicides, to sex assaults, human trafficking, federal drug and gun cases, and large conspiracy cases. He has also handled post-conviction cases (including a State death penalty case) and has presented oral arguments before both the
Colorado Court of Appeals and the Colorado Supreme Court.

Andres is a long-time instructor with ADC and the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar and has been on the faculty of the National Criminal Defense College for the past seven years. He has presented and trained attorneys
throughout the country, including presentations at the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL) annual conferences, trial training of lawyers with the U.S. Marines, and regional trial advocacy programs. Andres has
presented on different topics including opening and closing arguments, direct examinations, cross-examinations, federal criminal law, trial practice, jury selection, evidentiary topics, and RICO cases. Andres is also an author having
published in the areas of federal law enforcement, marijuana laws, and most recently in the area of cross-examining child witnesses (for The Champion, the official magazine of the NACDL, published June, 2022).