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BRUCE A. ANTKOWIAK is an associate professor at Duquesne University School of Law, where his areas of concentrations are in constitutional law, trial advocacy, and criminal process and procedure. Mr. Antkowiak has served as a practicing attorney since he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. He has served as an Assistant United States Attorney and as a criminal defense counsel in state and federal courts throughout the Commonwealth. In that capacity, Mr. Antkowiak has tried a multitude of cases before state and federal court juries in matters ranging from complex white collar crime to criminal homicide. He also has argued numerous times before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, and the Superior and Supreme courts of Pennsylvania. Mr. Antkowiak teaches courses in constitutional law, criminal process, trial advocacy and federal criminal law. He also serves as an advisor to the Innocence Project and assists in coaching the trial moot court teams. In 2003, he was named editor of the Pennsylvania Suggested Standard Jury Instructions - Criminal, a standard guide to criminal jury instructions used by Common Pleas courts throughout the Commonwealth. Mr. Antkowiak has also previously written articles in his main areas of practice. BRUCE R. BEEMER is an attorney with Beemer & Beemer, where he concentrates his practice in mass toxic tort cases, personal injury, and state and federal criminal defense. In 1995 Mr. Beemer began an almost 15 year career with the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office. He was Deputy District Attorney and was one of the 3 attorneys placed in charge of the General Trial Unit, comprised of approximately 18 attorneys. This unit handled approximately 10,000 cases a year. Throughout his tenure he repeatedly handled many of the most high profile homicides and serious felony cases in the office. Mr. Beemer also has previously spoken on the main areas of his practice. He also is an adjunct professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh (2003-present), where he teaches a course that emphasizes trial advocacy for the criminal lawyer. Mr. Beemer earned his B.A. degree, summa cum laude, from the University of Scranton and his J.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh. CHRISTOPHER M. CAPOZZI is an experienced trial and appellate lawyer who has successfully represented individuals, businesses, and state and local governments since 1992. Mr. Capozzi served as a prosecutor in the Allegheny County District Attorney's Office and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General for more than 11 years, where he was responsible for investigating and prosecuting a wide variety of criminal offenses. He also has extensive experience handling civil cases, having counseled and represented numerous individuals and businesses in both commercial and personal disputes and transactions. Mr. Capozzi has a genuine passion for the law and is committed to solving the unique problems of each of his clients. He has tried more than 300 cases to verdict, represented clients in arbitration and mediation, and handled appeals in the courts of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. Mr. Capozzi primarily practices in the State and Federal Courts of Western Pennsylvania, but also has been involved in cases in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia and New York. He earned his B.S. degree, with academic honors, from Penn State and his J.D. degree, with academic honors, from Georgetown University Law Center. LAURA A. DITKA is a deputy district attorney with Allegheny County District Attorney's Office. Ms. Ditka is a criminal trial attorney whose experience includes more than 140 jury trials and in excess of 20 homicide trials. She has been promoted from Assistant District Attorney, in the General Trial Unit, to a Deputy District Attorney initiating the first Child Abuse Unit in Allegheny County. Ms. Ditka was admitted to both the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. She is a member of the Allegheny County Bar Association; Pennsylvania Disciplinary Board, Pennsylvania District Attorney's Association; Child Death/Near Death Task Force; Multidisciplinary Team on Child Abuse, Allegheny County; and Allegheny County Child Death Review Team. Ms. Ditka earned her B.S., with honors, from Ohio University and her J.D. degree from Duquesne University School of Law. CHRIS R. EYSTER is a sole practitioner in Pittsburgh, where his main areas of practice are defense and litigation. Mr. Eyster is a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association, National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Allegheny County Bar Association and Westmoreland County Bar Association. He is admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court, Western District of Pennsylvania; the U.S. Court of Appeals, 3rd Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court. Mr. Eyster earned his J.D. degree from the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and his B.A. degree from Gettysburg College. TINA O. MILLER is a trial lawyer who represents individuals and corporations in criminal and civil litigation. Her practice focuses on criminal defense, corporate internal investigations, commercial civil litigation, and representing victims of crime in criminal and civil cases. She is a partner with Farrell & Reisinger, LLC. Prior to joining Farrell & Reisinger, Ms. Miller served for more than 13 years as a federal prosecutor in both the criminal and civil divisions of the United States Attorney's Office in Pittsburgh. Her jury trial experience includes a wide variety of cases, including fraud, arson, public corruption, arms trafficking, carjacking, narcotics trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children. In the fall of 2007, she was sole counsel for the government in a federal death penalty trial involving a murder-for-hire scheme. During her tenure as an Assistant United States Attorney, Ms. Miller served in various leadership roles, including serving as the District's Crimes Against Children Coordinator, the Environmental Crimes Coordinator, and the Worker Exploitation/Human Trafficking Coordinator. She also served as one of the district's computer crimes prosecutors. Ms. Miller was an original member of the Joint 9/11 Terrorism Task Force in the Western District of Pennsylvania. She was appointed by the Attorney General's Advisory Committee to serve on the United States Department of Justice's National Advisory Committee for Child Exploitation Investigations. In 2006, Ms. Miller was appointed by the Chief Judge of the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania to serve on the Local Rules Advisory Committee, which completely revised the federal local rules in the Western District of Pennsylvania. She has been certified as an arbitrator with the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania. Ms. Miller is a board member for the Workforce Development Program, a program developed by the United States Probation Office in the Western District of Pennsylvania to assist individuals on federal supervised release in obtaining jobs, education and housing. She is a past board member of the Third Circuit Historical Society, a member of the Pennsylvania Bar Association House of Delegates for Zone 12, and is an active member of the American Bar Association, the Pennsylvania Bar Association, and the Allegheny County Bar Association. Ms. Miller is past president of the Duquesne Law Alumni Association.
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