Jeralyn Elise Merritt (born September 28, 1949) is an American criminal defense attorney in private practice in Denver, Colorado, since 1974. She served as one of the trial lawyers for Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing case in 1996 and 1997. In 2002 Merritt founded and is the principal author of the blog TalkLeft: The Politics of Crime. She also serves as a legal commentator for news media programs and as an internet journalist. Education A 1967 graduate of New Rochelle High School, in New Rochelle, New York, Merritt attended Case Western Reserve University before transferring to the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where she majored in political science and earned a B.A. in 1971. In 1973 she earned a J.D. degree from the University of Denver Law School, returning there to teach "Wrongful Convictions" and "Criminal Defense" as Lecturer in Law from 2000 to 2003. Legal career In 1974 Merritt was admitted to the Bar in Colorado, established her own law firm, and in 1981 she was admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court. She is also a member of the Colorado Criminal Defense Bar. From 1996 to 2007, she served as a member of the LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Legal Advisory Board. In 1996 and 1997 she served as one of the trial lawyers for Timothy McVeigh in the Oklahoma City bombing case, after the court venue moved to Denver. In 1995 she received the first annual Marshall Stern Legislative Achievement Award, from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), for which she has served as a member of the Board of Directors (1995–2001), secretary (2002–2003) and treasurer (2003–2004), as the vice-chair of NACDL's Innocence Project from 1998 to 2002 and on other committees. In 2008 she received the Al Horn Award from the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), "a Lifetime achievement award for advancing the cause of justice and extraordinary support of NORML." After giving up her practice for a year and a half in order to work on the McVeigh defense team, since 1997, Merritt has continued her own criminal defense practice emphasizing federal drug and white collar crimes and has served as a legal analyst for and commentator on television news programs. From 1997 to 1999, she served as a television legal analyst for MSNBC, and, from 1996 to 2008, as a guest legal commentator on television for NBC, MSNBC,