Are things getting better in Michigan? Another sad tale!

It was a sad day in 2013 when Michigan’s largest city filed for bankruptcy. 

Today, we’re told, it’s a different story in Detroit. A new bridge is being built. New buildings are being erected. Historic buildings are being restored. According to numerous financial experts, a strong comeback is in the works. 

Perhaps that is the case downtown. I can tell you this: We’re not seeing it in the criminal justice system! 

A dear friend telephoned me from Detroit. I’ve known her for many years…her husband is a client of HFP, and we had a mutual friend named Maurice Carter. She called to say that her best friend’s husband was in prison and had been treated unfairly by the system in Detroit. She wondered if we could help. 

Those of you who are aware of the work of Humanity for Prisoners also know that we are not attorneys, and we do not operate an Innocence Project. We cannot help, we can only steer. These two Black women realized that, also. But, as the bald guy says in the TV ad, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two!” 

As I sat with the women in our conference room, I was painfully reminded, once again, of the shameful racial disparity in our system of so-called justice. 

“Black Americans are incarcerated in state prisons across the country at nearly five times the rate of whites.” The Sentencing Project 

“Black men comprise about 13% of the general population, but about 35% of those incarcerated.”  National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers 

I’ll not go into specific details of the alleged crime, but the fact is that a retired Detroit police officer with a fine record of achievement while in service is now behind bars…tripped up by the very people with whom he worked in the past. 

In an extortion attempt that went bad, with his life being threatened, he fired his weapon in self-defense. One of the attackers died. Here’s where the story turns sour. Home surveillance videos were mysteriously edited by police, deleting critical footage. Police also snatched his wife’s cell phone, then deleted key video before returning it. In trial, the high-priced defense attorney chose not to call in a forensic witness who would testify to these video discrepancies. After the guilty verdict, as the man’s wife vowed that this case wasn’t over, the shyster lawyer took his $20,000 and walked away, saying: “Tell the appellate court that I f####d up!” 

I hurt for these people. Especially when I read this: 

“…racial disparities in the criminal justice system are no accident, but rather are rooted in a history of oppression and discriminatory decision making that have deliberately targeted black people and helped create an inaccurate picture of crime that deceptively links them with criminality.” Vera Institute 

And people wonder why we stand with those who claim Black Lives Matter.