Kelson Bohnet

Kelson Bohnet is a career public defender. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2007 and earned his J.D. and Master’s in public policy from the University of Denver in 2012. Currently, Kelson is Capital Resource Counsel for the Office of the Federal Public Defender. His entire practice focuses on representation of the accused in federal death penalty trial cases. Previously, he was employed by the Kansas and Virginia public defender systems, where he represented individuals facing the death penalty in those states' courts. He began his career in Colorado's public defender system, where he defended numerous misdemeanor and felony trial-level cases in state court.

Kelson specializes in jury selection, motions writing, and sentencing advocacy. He trains other defense attorneys in those skills nationwide and is also an adjunct faculty member for the KU School of Professional Studies' Criminal Justice Program. Kelson is also active in policy reform efforts related to criminal law. He has been involved in numerous legislative efforts to repeal the death penalty, and makes regular speaking and media appearances to educate the public about capital punishment, its application to individual people and how it affects society as a whole.