The Sentencing Advocacy Group of Evanston (SAGE) is made up of founder Betsy Wilson and a team of experienced mitigation specialists and skilled records specialists. Our professional backgrounds range from law, social work, and sociology to criminal justice, business, and non-profit management. We regularly serve as faculty on national mitigation and death-penalty trainings and act as mentors to newcomers in the field.
Because of our extensive training and experience working with marginalized populations in diverse settings, SAGE mitigation specialists are able to forge deep and meaningful relationships with our clients and their families. The entire SAGE team is thoroughly familiar with the organizations that generate records concerning our clients and can obtain records that seem irretrievable. Mitigation specialists and records specialists are well versed in the meticulous organization of all cases and, using cutting edge case-management software, can generate reports tailored to specific case needs at a moment’s notice.
Because of our extensive training and experience working with marginalized populations in diverse settings, SAGE mitigation specialists are able to forge deep and meaningful relationships with our clients and their families. The entire SAGE team is thoroughly familiar with the organizations that generate records concerning our clients and can obtain records that seem irretrievable. Mitigation specialists and records specialists are well versed in the meticulous organization of all cases and, using cutting edge case-management software, can generate reports tailored to specific case needs at a moment’s notice.
Betsy Wilson
Executive Director, Senior Mitigation Specialist
She/her/hers
As the senior mitigation specialist, Betsy closely supervises and is involved with every aspect of SAGE’s mitigation investigations. She is one of the most experienced mitigation specialists in the country and has a mastery of the ever-changing laws regarding death-penalty sentencing and the best practices and science affecting sentencing advocacy.
Betsy has been working in death-penalty defense since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1998 and is licensed to practice law in New York and Illinois. In her two-decades of practice as an attorney and mitigation specialist, she has attended more than 40 conferences related to capital defense, legal developments, mitigation investigation, mental illness, trauma, and intellectual disability.
Betsy has conducted life-history investigations in more than 80 cases, including more than 50 capital cases. She has worked in federal and state jurisdictions across the country and at all phases of the proceedings including pre-authorization, trial, state post-conviction, federal habeas, and executive clemency.
Betsy is a nationally recognized as an expert in the field of mitigation. She has presented on topics related to death-penalty defense and mitigation at more than 25 conferences across the country. She designed and coordinated two national conferences: the National Alliance for Sentencing Advocacy and Mitigation Specialist’s Annual Sentence Advocacy Training and a five-part series of webinars for lawyers, mitigation specialists, and investigators defending juvenile-life cases presented by the National Association for Public Defense. She designed and presented trainings for two public defenders’ offices. and co-designed and coordinated a national conference on intellectual disability in death-penalty cases.
Betsy has been working in death-penalty defense since graduating from Harvard Law School in 1998 and is licensed to practice law in New York and Illinois. In her two-decades of practice as an attorney and mitigation specialist, she has attended more than 40 conferences related to capital defense, legal developments, mitigation investigation, mental illness, trauma, and intellectual disability.
Betsy has conducted life-history investigations in more than 80 cases, including more than 50 capital cases. She has worked in federal and state jurisdictions across the country and at all phases of the proceedings including pre-authorization, trial, state post-conviction, federal habeas, and executive clemency.
Betsy is a nationally recognized as an expert in the field of mitigation. She has presented on topics related to death-penalty defense and mitigation at more than 25 conferences across the country. She designed and coordinated two national conferences: the National Alliance for Sentencing Advocacy and Mitigation Specialist’s Annual Sentence Advocacy Training and a five-part series of webinars for lawyers, mitigation specialists, and investigators defending juvenile-life cases presented by the National Association for Public Defense. She designed and presented trainings for two public defenders’ offices. and co-designed and coordinated a national conference on intellectual disability in death-penalty cases.
Aleca Tesseris Sullivan
Chief Operating Officer
She/her/hers
Aleca has a dual role at SAGE, performing mitigation functions while also overseeing operations to ensure SAGE runs as efficiently and effectively as possible. She brings over 25 years of experience in economic development and community outreach to SAGE, crossing the private, nonprofit and government sectors. She has worked in management consulting for private firms both in the United States and abroad, spent several interesting years working for the National Park Service, completed a decade of very fulfilling work in education and community building and most recently worked as a founding member of the digital nonprofit Benevolent. Aleca earned her Masters Degree from Boston University in American Studies and her BA in economics from the University of Michigan.
Haley Volpintesta
Mitigation Specialist
She/her/hers
Haley worked with young people in the sex trade and criminal justice systems as a direct service provider and qualitative researcher for over 15 years, and joined SAGE in January of 2015. She is a mitigation specialist that fills her extra hours as a doctoral candidate at University of Illinois Chicago pursuing her PhD in Sociology with a focus on gender, sexuality, and the law. She earned her Bachelors in Gender and Women’s Studies from Knox College and her Masters in Human Rights from Columbia University.
Heather Heuman Sweeney
Mitigation Specialist
She/her/hers
Heather is a social worker and former Special Education teacher. In addition, Heather has had training in social-justice issues and is a racial-justice advocate and consultant. She received her Masters in Social Work from Jane Addams College of Social Work at University of Illinois Chicago and her Masters in Special Education from Northeastern Illinois University.
Mary O'Brien
Records Specialist
She/her/hers
Mary O'Brien serves as a Records Specialist with SAGE. She previously worked as a Research Coordinator at Northwestern University and as an Account Supervisor with Leo Burnett Company. She is an active volunteer for Misericordia and has advocated for homeless individuals with Connections for the Homeless. Mary received her Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Wisconsin-Madison and is pursuing her Master of Arts in Elementary Education from National Louis University.
Lillian Huang Cummins
Mitigation Specialist
She/her/hers
Lillian is a clinical psychologist and writer who has worked and volunteered at the intersections of equity, culture, health, and education for over 20 years. She is a licensed clinical psychologist in the state of California and has both research and clinical experience working with ethnically diverse and marginalized populations. Lillian received her Bachelors degree in Human Biology from Stanford University, her PhD in Clinical Psychology from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and her MFA in Fiction from the Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Elisabeth Pratt
Mitigation Assistant
She/her/hers
Elisabeth is a mitigation assistant and doctoral student studying clinical psychology at The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. She begins her clinical training in fall of 2018. Elisabeth completed an internship program in juvenile probation at Ingham County where she continued to volunteer after her internship ended. She has also completed research at Michigan State University on Juvenile Risk Assessment, presenting her findings at the Society for Research on Adolescence conference in Austin, Texas, in March of 2014. She received her Bachelors degrees in both Psychology and Criminal Justice from Michigan State University.
Katherine Cardenas
Records Specialist
She/her/hers
Katherine is a Records Specialist with SAGE. Katherine has a background as a paralegal, and holds a degree in Paralegal Studies. She is currently pursuing a bachelor's degree in Criminal Justice with a concentration in Criminology.