grey-at-law

House Bill 4250 has been introduced and referred to the Judiciary Committee for consideration. It is a component of a list of reforms urged by the Innocence Project to address the infrequent, but disastrous problem of conviction and imprisonment of demonstrably innocent individuals. It would allow exonerated individuals to recover compensation for time wrongly imprisoned, economic damages, and physical and mental health care. In short, it would afford wrongfully imprisoned individuals the means to begin to make their lives whole again.

The increasing use of DNA testing to establish identity of criminal suspects has also enabled onclusive exoneration of a significant number of convicted and imprisoned individuals. (However, one exoneration would be a significant number if you were that one individual.) The Innocence Project has been doing a commendable job in bringing attention to this situation and advocating for legislative change. They currently report 215 post-conviction DNA exonerations in the United States. (more…)

Yesterday I wrote my inaugural post of this blog, a description of the difficulty I seemed to be having while trying to meet with my Michigan legislative representative, Shanelle Jackson. I had no idea if anyone was going to be finding and reading this blog yet. I had a story that amused me, and I thought would be amusing to others, so I told things as they had happened to me. In the title, I gave a nod to a 1985 movie starring Madonna.

I am happy to report that my search is over. I will be meeting with Rep. Jackson next Monday. Before lunch today I got an email that a response to my post was waiting to be approved. Within fifteen minutes, a second response was waiting to be approved. This one was from Shanelle Jackson herself. (more…)

My Michigan legislative representative is freshman Shanelle Jackson, District 9. I have a concern that I would like to bring before her, to hopefully get her support of legislation that I favor. I could write a letter, but want more than a form letter response. I thought that seeing her in person at a public meeting in the district would be a good choice, as I can not conveniently visit Lansing.

For some reason this plan has not worked out yet. I have actually gone on four different occasions to a location that her staff (or a newsletter) told me that she would be present at a meeting. There turned out to be no meeting that day at that location. What is going on? (more…)