March 29, 2009

Hey, we could use some stimulus over here!

From the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, all you could want to know about Thursday's Congressional hearing concerning indigent defense:

Hearing on the Representation of Indigent Defendants in Criminal Cases: A Constitutional Crisis in Michigan and Other States?

In a historic move, the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing on March 26, 2009 to investigate the failure of a state to uphold the right to counsel for those accused of a crime, a right promised by the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The hearing of the House Judiciary Committee’s Sub-Committee on Crime, Terrorism & Homeland Security focused on the serious flaws in Michigan’s public defense system, which include numerous questionable practices, from untrained and overburdened attorneys to slight-of-hand maneuvers to get the accused to unwittingly waive their right to an attorney...

Update: the ACLU blog has more, actually.

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