Michigan News
(2009-12-21)
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The Michigan Supreme Court will hear a request to change the way poor people are represented in court.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed suit two years ago to challenge Michigan's system of having counties bear the responsibility of providing public defenders to defendants without the means to hire their own lawyer.
"The full burden of providing lawyers to poor people falls on the counties," says Kary Moss, the executive director of the Michigan ACLU, "There's no statewide accountability. There's very little training for lawyers. It's just a very, very broken system."
The ACLU contends Michigan should establish a state-wide public defender system to replace the system of county programs.
The Michigan Supreme Court has not agreed to hear the case, just to determine whether the case should be allowed to go to trial.
The state of Michigan is fighting the lawsuit, claiming the lawsuit itself is legally flawed. © Copyright 2012, Michigan Radio
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