Is the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission doing enough to protect the innocent?
Michigan Indigent Defense Commissioner John Shea explains how years of underfunded public defense led to the MIDC's creation, and argues that wrongful sentencing from overworked defense attorneys is an even bigger problem than wrongful convictions.
About This Episode
John Shea is the commissioner of the An Arbor branch of the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission and an expert on public defense. He has been in private practice since 1988 and specialized in criminal defense. John is an advocate for better indigent defense statewide as well as an excellent lawyer.
In this episode, Mike dives further into his discussion about the criminal justice system by learning about the progress being made in Michigan. John explains the origins of the MIDC, the need for a public defender office, and how he believes wrongful sentencing is a bigger problem than wrongful conviction. Watch this informative episode to hear more about the issues that still exist in the Michigan criminal justice system and what we can do about them.
Show Notes
- Introducing today’s guest, Defense Attorney John Shea
- How did the MIDC get started?
- Do you agree with Professor Primus that one statewide organization is the best solution?
- Incarcerating people costs more money than providing them a lawyer
- Were there lawyers at bail hearings before the MIDC brought them in?
- People who need indigent defense usually don’t have enough money to post bail
- Is ending bail for nonviolent offenders a popular movement right now?
- The Bail Project will pay up to $5,000 bail for free
- Watch the Ted Talk by the founder of the bail project here
- Was it the MIDC that picked the public defender organization that came to Wayne county?
- If a lawyer’s paycheck depends on a judge, then they are disincentivized to do their job well
- The best way to handle indigent defense is through a public defender’s office
- Michigan does not require lawyers to continue their education after passing the bar
- What can people do if their court appointed attorney does a bad job?
- Is the average court appointed case still $450 from beginning to end?
- Lawyers used to have to take way too many indigent defense cases to support themselves.
- Every wrongful conviction case Mike has seen has had a bad defense lawyer involved.
- Wrongful sentencing is a bigger problem than wrongful conviction
- Are clients pressured into taking bad pleas?
- Thank you for watching this episode of the open mike podcast!
FAQs
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How did the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission come to be?
Shea says Michigan devolved indigent defense to its 83 counties, creating a patchwork of systems and funding. After a 2008 NLADA report found Michigan seventh from the bottom of the 50 states in per capita spending, Governor Snyder set up an indigent defense advisory commission in 2011, on which Shea served. Its 2012 report recommended that the state create the Indigent Defense Commission to develop and enforce statewide standards across all 83 counties.
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Why does John Shea say having counsel at first appearance is so important?
Shea says counsel at first appearance has made the biggest immediate impact of the first standards on jail use and pretrial populations. He cites a pilot project at the 55th District Court in which people were out more, resolved their cases faster because they spoke with a lawyer sooner, and saved the system money. He adds that the Sixth Amendment requires counsel at this critical stage, and that with lawyers now at every arraignment, bond decisions are smarter, though some bonds are still too high.
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What does John Shea believe is a bigger problem than wrongful convictions?
According to Shea, 90 to 95 percent of felony cases end in pleas, and overworked, underpaid lawyers may not have time to do a mitigation investigation or research sentencing guideline defects, so clients are sentenced to more time than they should be. He says the State Appellate Defender Office finds a very large percentage of its plea-based appeals involve guideline errors no one objected to. On the numbers, he calls over-punishment a much bigger problem than wrongful convictions at trial, while stressing both are hugely important.
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Why is judicial independence in attorney appointments a contentious standard?
Shea says judges shouldn’t decide who gets appointed. If an attorney thinks part of his or her “bread and butter” relies on a judge continuing to appoint them, there is a disincentive to be zealous in ways that judge doesn’t appreciate, such as seeking an expert to vet DNA evidence, and pushing may mean no more appointments. He calls the proposed standard one of the most critical and one of the most contentious.
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How has attorney compensation changed under the MIDC?
Shea says the MIDC has proposed a compensation standard that the state agency responsible has not yet approved, but he estimates a third or more of local funding units have already proposed raises in their compliance plans, with proposals of $90, $100 or $110 an hour now common. He says systems are going from paying $50 an hour to $100 an hour. When he started, he says, a misdemeanor appointment that ended in a plea paid about $250.
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