Professor Sean O’Brien teaches criminal law and procedure at UMKC School of Law since 2005 and serves as the Habeas Assistance and Training Counsel for the Eighth Circuit. He has represented people in death penalty cases across the country since 1983, and he has qualified as an expert witness on standards of performance for capital defense lawyers in state and federal courts throughout the United States. His Supreme Court cases include Schlup v. Delo, which set the standard for innocence claims in federal habeas corpus, and Stewart v. Martinez-Villareal, which empowers habeas courts to prevent the execution of insane prisoners. He directed the research and writing of the Supplementary Guidelines for the Mitigation Function of Defense Teams in Death Penalty Cases, 36 Hofstra L. Rev. 677 (2008), and publishes and lectures nationally on death penalty, indigent defense, and related mental health issues. Professor O’Brien has served as the Jackson County Public Defender, executive director of the Missouri Capital Punishment Resource Center, chair of the MoBar Criminal Law Committee, and president of the Missouri Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. He has been recognized for decades of successful work to free the innocent and prevent unjust executions. In 2016, the Missouri Bar presented him with the Spurgeon Smithson Award for improving access to justice, and in 2022, he was awarded the UMKC N.T. Veatch Award for Distinguished Research and Creativity. Other recognitions for his work on behalf of poor people include the KCMBA Lifetime Achievement Award (2005), the Jackson County Legal Leaders Award (2005), The Lawyers Association of Kansas City Justice Charles Whitaker Award (2004), Missouri Lawyer’s Weekly Lawyer of the Year (2003), Northwest Missouri State University’s Distinguished Alumni Award (2006), The UMKC Alumni Achievement Award (2002), the NLADA National Sentencing Project Award (2008), UMKC’s Daniel Brenner Writing Award (2008), and an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Benedictine College (2005).
