Staff and Legal Counsel | Texas Defender Service

Burke Butler

Executive Director

Burke Butler (she/her) became Executive Director of Texas Defender Service in 2022, where she leads TDS’s vibrant, committed team in their mission to fight for the end of mass incarceration and excessive punishment in Texas. She can be reached at bbutler@texasdefender.org

Burke has worked on criminal justice matters for over twelve years. Her experience spans policy, research, appellate litigation, and advocacy. Burke graduated from Yale Law School in 2011, where she was a recipient of the C. LaRue Munson Prize for Excellence in a Law School Clinical Program. She served as a law clerk to the Honorable Harris L Hartz of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit and to the Honorable Keith P. Ellison of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

In 2013, Burke was awarded an Arthur Liman Fellowship from Yale Law School to spearhead a comprehensive investigation of Texas’s use of solitary confinement. Later, as a Staff Attorney at Texas Defender Service and then as a Principal at Phillips Black, Burke represented capitally sentenced prisoners in their post-conviction proceedings in state and federal court. At the Justice Collaborative, Burke engaged local elected officials to institute progressive policies to transform the criminal punishment system. She is a 2007 graduate of the University of Chicago, where she majored in English literature. Burke’s creative writing has appeared in The Texas Observer and in the literary magazines The Virginia Quarterly Review and Gulf Coast. Before becoming engaged in human rights issues in Texas’s criminal-legal system, she worked and volunteered in Afghanistan, Peru, India, Sierra Leone, and London.

In 2019, she was named a Premier Woman in Law by the Houston Association of Women Attorneys.

Randi Chavez

Deputy Director and Head of Mitigation

Randi Chavez (she/her) received a Master of Science in Social Work in 2003. While completing her graduate degree she interned at Texas Defender Service as a mitigation specialist. Upon graduation, she was hired as the first full-time mitigation specialist for the Gulf Region Advocacy Center (GRACE) and later worked independently as a mitigation specialist at both the trial and post-conviction levels. She then honed her clinical skills for three years as a clinical social worker in an inpatient psychiatric hospital in Austin, Texas. Randi returned to Texas Defender Service in 2009 as a mitigation specialist. As Deputy Director and Head of Mitigation, Randi now oversees TDS’s operations and provides high-level leadership and mentorship of TDS’s mitigation team. Randi can be reached at rchavez@texasdefender.org.

Caiti Coughlan

Mitigation Specialist

Caiti Coughlan (she/her) received a Master of Social Work from Baylor University in 2022. While completing her degree, Caiti interned at the YWCA of Greater Austin where she worked as a case manager for Austin-area residents facing crisis, and at Texas Defender Service, where she assisted the mitigation department with pre-trial and post-conviction casework. Upon graduation, Caiti was hired full-time as a Junior Mitigation Specialist. Before completing her Master of Social Work, Caiti received a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of Texas at Austin. Caiti worked as a freelance musician and private lessons teacher for over ten years.

Julia Draper

Manne Family Fellow

Julia Draper (she/her) is a Manne Family Fellow with the Texas Defender Service. Julia received her B.A. in American Studies from the College of William and Mary and received her J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2024. During law school, Julia participated in the UT civil rights clinic and the capital punishment clinic. After graduation, she moved to Louisville, Kentucky, to work as a public defender for the Department of Public Advocacy. While in Louisville, Julia represented indigent individuals in all stages of litigation up to and including trial. She is excited to be back in Texas to continue fighting against mass incarceration and excessive punishment.

Emily Follansbee

Legal Director

Prior to joining TDS, Emily (she/her) practiced criminal defense in Colorado. She spent over 7 years as an attorney for the Colorado State Public Defender’s Office where she defended indigent individuals at trial for all types of criminal offenses including homicide. Emily’s practice also included successful appellate and post-conviction litigation at the state level. Emily holds a J.D. from the University of Oregon and a B.A. from Union College.

Cassandra Geiken

Parole Attorney

Prior to joining TDS, Cassie Geiken (she/her) served as the Texas Law Parole Fellow with the Mithoff Pro Bono Program at the University of Texas School of Law. Cassie received her B.S. in Criminology and Criminal Justice from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2019 and her J.D. from the University of Texas school of Law in 2022. While in law school, Cassie worked with the UT Law civil rights clinic, actual innocence clinic, human rights clinic, and for Texas Legal Services Center and Disability Rights Washington.

Kyle Harmon

Mitigation Specialist

Kyle Harmon received a Master of Science in Social Work from UT Austin in 2021 and B.A.s in English and Psychology UNC Chapel Hill in 2016. Kyle joined TDS as an employee in 2021 and interned with the organization prior to starting full-time. Their previous experience includes working as a therapist for kids and adults experiencing mood, anxiety, or eating disorders; organizing resource distribution for folks who are unhoused; and fundraising for greater access to quality educational and wellness resources.

Estelle Hebron-Jones

Director of Special Projects

Estelle (she/her) holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and a B.A. in literature from the University College London. Before joining TDS, she was a Staff Attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery.

Jane Irons

Manne Family Fellow

Jane Irons (she/her) is a Manne Family Fellow with Texas Defender Service. Jane received her B.A. in Philosophy from Yale University in 2019 and received her J.D. from Columbia Law School in 2024. While in law school, Jane represented clients as part of the Criminal Defense Clinic, served as an extern at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Squire Patton Boggs Public Service Initiative, and Center for Appellate Litigation, and interned at the Georgia Capital Defender and the ACLU of Colorado.

Nayeli Moreno

Senior Mitigation Specialist

Nayeli Moreno (she/her) received a Bachelor of Social Work in 2018 and a Master of Science in Social Work in 2019 from the University of Texas at Austin. During her time at UT, Nayeli completed internships at the UT Law Criminal Defense Clinic and at Texas Defender Service as a Mitigation Intern. She joined Texas Defender Service as a Junior Mitigation Specialist in 2019.

Jamie Newsome

Senior Mitigation Specialist

Jamie Newsome (she/her) received a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Latin American Studies from Colgate University and graduated from The University of Texas at Austin with a Master of Science in Social Work. During her graduate studies, Jamie completed an internship with the Council for At-Risk Youth. She spent her final semester in graduate school as an intern with Texas Defender Service before joining full time as a mitigation specialist in 2018.

Caitlin Purcell

Mitigation Unit Manager

Caitlin (she/her) holds B.A. from Yale University and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas. Before joining TDS in 2018, she was a Clinical Caseworker in Austin’s Community Court.

Ashlee Qussad

Office Manager

Ashlee (she/her) started working with TDS in Nov of 2019. Before starting at TDS she lived in Dallas where she studied Psychology at TWU.

Jennae Swiergula

Senior Counsel

Before joining the Texas Defender Service, Jennae (she/her) was a staff attorney at the Office of Capital and Forensic Writs, where she represented death-sentenced prisoners in Texas in their state habeas proceedings. Prior to joining the OCFW, she was a staff attorney at the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Alabama, where she represented clients sentenced to death and clients sentenced to life without parole as children in all stages of state and federal post-conviction proceedings. She also represented other indigent clients subjected to excessive or unfair convictions and punishment and litigated challenges to the conditions of confinement in Alabama prisons. Previously Jennae was an associate at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York and she interned with Judge Michael H. Dolinger on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. She received her J.D. degree from Harvard Law School in 2008.

Kevin Trahan

Staff Attorney

Kevin Trahan (he/him) first joined Texas Defender Service as a G. Rollie White legal fellow, and is now a staff attorney. He received his B.S. in journalism from Northwestern University in 2015 and his J.D. from the University of Texas School of Law in 2020. Before law school, Kevin was a journalist covering sports and sports law.

Jared Tyler

Senior Counsel

Jared Tyler (he/him) graduated magna cum laude from the University of Houston Law Center in 2003. After graduating, he worked for three years as Deputy Director of the Texas Innocence Network, in which capacity he represented both capital and non-capital defendants in post-conviction proceedings in state and federal court and taught a course on innocence investigations at the University of Houston Law Center. He first joined TDS as a staff attorney in 2006 until 2009, where he represented capitally sentenced clients at all levels of state and federal post-conviction review. In addition to direct representation, he regularly consults on other state and federal capital post-conviction cases. Mr. Tyler rejoined TDS in 2017. He is licensed to practice law in Texas and admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern and Eastern Districts of Texas, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, and the U.S. Supreme Court.