Advanced Cross Examination and Impeachment

July 16, 2026 12 PM- 3 PM
Location TBD, Lawrence KS

RSVP at KHD.Link/Training

Free and Open to Practicing Defense Attorneys and Law Students
1-3 hour of CLE Credit Available (approval pending)

Cross examination is a core skills for criminal defense attorneys, and one that can easily go wrong when a witness says something unexpected. This training will be a 1-hour lecture, followed by two hours of on-your-feet drills, practice, critique and feedback of fundamental impeachment skills (e.g. impeachment by prior inconsistent statement, impeachment by omission, bias, etc).

Anthony Natale was for five years lead capital counsel for the defense team representing Abdul Rahim Al Nashiri, the individual charge with masterminding the bombing of the USS Cole, the military commission tribunal being held in Guantanamo, Cuba. Prior to that he was a Supervising Assistant Federal Public Defender in Miami, Florida.

Melody Brannon is the Former Federal Public Defender for the District of Kansas. She was with the FPD for 26 years and served the last ten years as Defender. She began her career as a public defender in the Oklahoma County Public Defender Office in 1990 and worked in death penalty defense at both trial and habeas levels in Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. As Federal Defender, she has implemented a holistic defense paradigm and created extensive CLE, mentoring, and internship programs.

Tony Natale

Anthony J. Natale, “Tony” was for five years lead capital counsel for the defense team representing Abdul Rahim Al Nashiri, the individual charge with masterminding the bombing of the USS Cole, the military commission tribunal being held in Guantanamo, Cuba. Prior to that he was a Supervising Assistant Federal Public Defender in Miami, Florida. In that position, he served as training coordinator for the Federal Defender Office and the CJA panel lawyers for the Southern District of Florida.

Prior to joining the Federal Defenders Office, he was in private practice for over twenty years concentrating on criminal defense and civil rights trials in both State and Federal courts. The cases he has taken to trial include capital murder, terrorism, complex fraud matters, large drug conspiracies, civil rights violations, and personal injury actions.

He has been a member of the National Criminal Defense College faculty since 1982, and lectures extensively throughout the United States on criminal defense topics such as voir dire, advanced cross-examination, cross-examination of experts and theory of the case. Tony has helped to organize and teach in criminal defense training programs in China, Zimbabwe, and Vietnam.

He is a member of the Florida and District of Colombia Bars and has been admitted pro hac vice in several jurisdictions throughout the country. He is a graduate of the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University and the Antioch School of Law.

Agenda

July 16, 2026

12 PM Welcome/Introductions

12 - 12:50 PM - Lecture on Impeachment and Cross

1-3 PM - Cross examination and impeachment drills