Jason D. Tulley

Jason served in several capacities at the PDS, including as a supervisor for fourteen years. He tried all levels of cases, from juvenile through major felony to the most complex murder cases, such as insanity defenses and shaken baby syndrome allegations. More recently, Jason has tried only homicide cases in the trial division at the PDS. He won four of his past five homicide trials in that time (with the fifth pending appeal) and successfully managed to have eleven other murder cases dismissed against his clients in the pre-trial stage, either by judicial ruling or convincing the government to drop the case through aggressive litigation, which often involved expert and forensic issues.

As the training director at PDS, Jason instructed new attorneys at the agency as well as private attorneys seeking appointment in criminal cases about all aspects of D.C. Superior Court litigation. In his role as special counsel to the director for forensics and expert witnesses at PDS, he led the organization’s nationally recognized Forensic Practice Group, which focuses on litigation of science issues from all aspects of DNA to cell tower technology to biomechanical engineering to neuropathology , while also managing the agency’s budget for expert witnesses. Jason often attended science conferences to better understand and educate the attorneys and experts on the scientific principles involved in forensic litigation.  Jason also brought forth impact litigation cases to the office, such as litigating Sixth Amendment Fair Cross Section claims and DC’s series of DNA exonerations. He is past chair of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers’ (NACDL) Forensic Science Committee, where he worked on a national level to ensure scientifically sound forensic practices and education for the defense bar in all forensic disciplines.  

Prior to working at PDS, Jason was a deputy capital defender in the trial division of New York’s Capital Defender Office, where he represented indigent persons facing death penalty charges. He was also an associate with a small Maryland law firm that handled state and federal civil and criminal cases, including a substantial capital defense practice. Immediately following law school, he clerked for the Honorable Theodore Bloom on the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland. Jason was born and raised in the Bronx, New York, and held his first job at thirteen selling sodas in stands of Yankee Stadium.