I am writing today to announce the closure of the Michigan Messenger. After four years of operation in Michigan, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news into a single site, The American Independent at Americanindependent.com. This is part of a shift in strategy, towards new forms [...]
An abstinence-only presentation provided to numerous school districts in Calhoun and Eaton Counties in October of this year provided false and misleading information to students about HIV, experts allege.
Two county registers of deeds filed a class action lawsuit Monday on behalf of Michigan’s 83 counties alleging that the Mortgage Electronic Registration Services owes millions of dollars in property title transfer taxes.
Despite evidence of the impact of mercury on children and public health, Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette last month joined with 24 other state attorneys general in filing a lawsuit to scuttle new EPA regulations that would reduce mercury emissions from power plants.
Disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick will now get two more attorneys on his defense team at public expense in his federal trial for tax evasion and fraud. The Detroit News reports that the judge in his federal case — not to be confused with the state trial for probation violations, for which he is [...]
The Michigan Supreme Court will hear oral argument this morning in a class action lawsuit challenging the state of Michigan for violating the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by failing to provide adequate legal defense for poor defendants who cannot afford their own attorney. The Associated Press reports:
When a major report a year ago concluded that Michigan’s public defender system was in a state of “constitutional crisis,” one of the major problems that was identified was that every county had its own system for providing indigent defense, with no state funding or oversight. That meant the quality and availability of indigent defense [...]
The Michigan Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge to the state’s public defender system. More accurately, to the state’s lack of a public defender system and the fact that each county is responsible for providing attorneys for indigent defendants without funding or oversight from the state. The lawsuit, a class action suit filed [...]
A new bill, HB 5676, has been introduced in the Michigan legislature to address the many problems with the state’s indigent defense system. The bill was submitted by Rep. Bob Constan (D-Dearborn Heights) and cosponsored by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Kentwood). The legislation, dubbed the Michigan Public Defense Act, would create a state public defend commission [...]
Michigan is not the only state struggling with an inadequate public defender system. The Missouri Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling (PDF) this week ordering judges, prosecutors and public defenders to work together to find ways to fix the indigent defense system in that state.
The Detroit Free Press has joined the fight to fix the constitutional crisis in Michigan’s public defender system with an editorial calling for legislative action. Noting that Michigan currently ranks 44th in the nation in spending on indigent defense, the editorial rightly declares, “Even in tough times, upholding constitutional rights and keeping innocent people out [...]
Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith is so incensed at the Macomb County Board of Commissioners over cuts to his office made necessary by a county budget deficit of nearly $16 million that he is considering filing a lawsuit against his own county to have those cuts overturned. The Detroit News reports:
Fred Friedman, the Chief Public Defender for the 6th Judicial District in Minnesota, has an op-ed in the Lansing State Journal about the need to reform Michigan’s system for providing attorneys to represent indigent defendants. Friedman minces few words, noting right up front, “You have a lovely state. You also have a lousy public defense [...]
The House Judiciary Indigent Defense Subcommittee began holding hearings on Tuesday on proposed legislation (PDF) to improve Michigan’s public defender system. The bill would create a seven-member public defender commission to oversee an overhaul of the state’s public defender system, which studies show is broken to the point of being a constitutional violation.
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