Firm Overview Areas of Practice Helpful Tips Press & Bios Contact Us Brandi Harden - Washington, DC Brandi Harden is currently the Managing Partner at Harden & Pinckney, PLLC, a boutique law firm located in downtown Washington, DC. Harden & Pinckney, PLLC specializes in criminal defense litigation, contract, divorce and family law. Ms. Harden is also an adjunct professor at Howard University School of Law, where she coaches the Huver I. Brown Trial Advocacy Moot Court Team. Before going into private practice, Ms. Harden was a trial attorney as well as a supervising attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (hereinafter PDS). While working for PDS, Ms. Harden maintained a homicide case load and supervised attorneys litigating general felony cases in D.C. Superior Court. Ms. Harden also served as a chair of the 2004 Criminal Practice Institute, led the felony division-trial practice groups, served as faculty for Summer Series trainings, and was an active member of the PDS Forensic Practice Group. Prior to becoming employed at PDS, Ms. Harden worked for the Southern Center for Human Rights, the United States Department of Labor, and for the United States Department of Justice in the Antitrust Division – Computer and Finance Section. Ms. Harden has been faculty at the National Student Leadership Conference, the Georgia Honors Program, the Southern Public Defender Training Center, The Bronx Defender’s Trial College, and Harvard Law School’s Trial Advocacy Workshop. Brandi Harden is a native Texan who obtained both her Bachelor of Arts as well as her Juris Doctorate from Howard University. She is currently admitted to practice law in Washington DC, and is an active member of the District of Columbia Bar. Three acquittals in Trinidad murder trial By Gary Emerling of WTOP - Tuesday, April 12, 2011 ".... As verdicts were read for one of the Bentons, a young man left the courtroom with tears streaming down his face, and shouts could be heard outside. After hearing he was acquitted on all counts, Christian Benton placed a hand on his face and leaned over in his chair. "It's not good that Alonzo Robinson passed. I'm not happy about that at all," said Heather Pinckney, defense attorney for Joshua Benton. "But I am very happy that this jury did its job." Click here to read full article D.C. juror is charged after skipping day of murder trial By Keith L. Alexander - Saturday, March 6, 2010 ".... Under questioning by his attorney, Brandi Harden, Alexander testified that when he sat in the jury box during the first day of the trial and watched Dixon on the bench, he found it difficult to focus on the evidence. His mind wandered, he said, to the days of watching his father. "Being in the courthouse affected me emotionally. It was a little difficult," he said." Click here to read full article Second Suspect Pleads Guilty in D.C. Double Killing By Keith L. Alexander - Friday, August 21, 2009 "....Angela Hernandez, like Peiro Fuentes Hernandez, is originally from El Salvador. In addition to deportation, she faces a maximum of 110 years in prison, although because she has no prior convictions and pleaded guilty, Angela Hernandez's court-appointed attorney, Heather Pinckney, said she hopes her client receives a lesser sentence." Click here to read full article Shooter Had Big Plan, Say Officials By Allison Klein and Aaron C. Davis - Thursday, May 1, 2008 ".... At his arraignment yesterday in D.C. Superior Court, Johnson pleaded not guilty to assault with intent to kill while armed. Public defender Brandi Harden argued" Click here to read full article Public Defender Intern Recalled As Positive Example for Youths By Jonathan Mummolo and Omar Fekeiki - Sunday, July 1, 2007 ".... Heather Pinckney, a trial attorney with the public defender's office, said Richardson told her that few of the people he grew up with in Far Rockaway, N.Y., went to college or left the old neighborhood." Click here to read full article Witnesses Describe Shooting of 17-Year-Old By Henri E. Cauvin - Wednesday, January 31, 2007 ".... Magistrate Judge J. Dennis Doyle, after reviewing the account and listening to arguments from the prosecutor, Magdalena A. Bell, and the defendant's attorney, Brandi Harden of the D.C. Public Defender Service, ordered Mackabee held without bond before another hearing Feb. 12. " Click here to read full article A Morning of Terror and Flames By Keith L. Alexander and Henri E. Cauvin - Wednesday, December 20, 2006 "....Initially charged by police with assault with intent to kill in the Saturday morning incident, James, 48, appeared yesterday in D.C. Superior Court and was charged with arson after prosecutors reviewed the evidence against him. " Click here to read full article Doubts Raised in Case Against Man Accused of Slaying Girl, 17 By Henri E. Cauvin - Thursday, September 14, 2006 "....When Lesene was brought before Magistrate Judge Michael J. McCarthy yesterday, defense attorney Brandi Harden, of the D.C. Public Defender Service, challenged the charging documents filed by the U.S. attorney's office. She cited inconsistencies in the accounts of the two witnesses cited in the documents. One witness reported that Lesene was wearing a mask, but the other made no mention of a mask, according to the papers. It was that discrepancy that appeared to most trouble McCarthy. "That's a big difference," he told Assistant U.S. Attorney David Gorman." Click here to read full article Jury Deadlocks in Case That Relied on DNA By Henri E. Cauvin - Saturday, April 15, 2006 ".... Jenkins's attorneys, Edward J. Ungvarsky and Brandi Harden of the D.C. Public Defender Service, attacked the case and put forth enough alternative theories to raise questions among the jurors. After the jurors reported their deadlock Thursday, the judge declared a mistrial. A hearing was set for later this month to discuss any plans for a retrial." Click here to read full article Heather Pinckney - Washington, DC Heather Pinckney is currently a partner at Harden & Pinckney, PLLC, a boutique law firm located in downtown Washington, DC. Harden & Pinckney, PLLC specializes in criminal defense litigation, contract, divorce and family law. Before entering into private practice, Ms. Pinckney served as a deputy chief of the Trial Division for the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia (hereinafter PDS). As a deputy trial chief, Heather Pinckney assisted in the management and day to day operations of the trial division and supervised over 60 attorneys litigating criminal cases in the District of Columbia Superior Court. Prior to becoming deputy trial chief, Ms. Pinckney served for 8 years as a staff attorney at PDS. She also served for 4 years as the chair of the DC Public Defender Service Hiring Committee. During her tenure, Ms. Pinckney represented juvenile and adult indigent clients on criminal matters raging from misdemeanors to homicides before both, the DC Superior Court and the United States Parole Commission. Her representations have included individuals charged with homicide, sex offenses, arson, firearm violations, and obstruction of justice. She has tried numerous jury trials to verdict and has represented individuals at every stage of criminal litigation, including pre-indictment, grand jury, trial and post-trial. Ms. Pinckney is a native Washingtonian and received her B. A. from Marymount University and her J.D. from George Washington University School of Law. Ms. Pinckney is admitted to practice in the District of Columbia. Prior to beginning at PDS, she worked for the Educational Opportunities Section of the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice. She also worked for the Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless and TransAfrica. She served as chair of the 2005 PDS Criminal Practice Institute Conference, acted as faculty for numerous PDS Summer Series Training Sessions and was an active member of the PDS Forensic Practice Group, which dealt with areas involving blood spatter and DNA. Ms. Pinckney has acted as a visiting instructor with the Georgia Honors Program and with the Southern Public Defender Training Center. She has also served as a guest lecturer at Howard University School of Law, American University School of Law, the David A. Clarke School of Law (UDC), and the Harvard Law School Trial Advocacy Workshop.