By Ed White
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) — A law professor who has helped convicts win freedom from prison is seeking the Democratic nomination for Michigan Supreme Court.
Bridget McCormack, co-director of the Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan law school, has never been a judge but believes her experience as an advocate and teacher makes her qualified for the state’s highest court.
Three seats are up in the fall election on a court that is controlled by Republicans, 4-3.
McCormack, 45, declined to critique individual justices but said Michigan needs a court that cares “about fairness and integrity and getting it right.”
“I hope I can move it in that direction,” she told The Associated Press in an interview Wednesday.
McCormack has been at the University of Michigan since 1998 and oversees its various clinics, which allow law students to work on real cases.
The Innocence Clinic has brought the school much acclaim. In 2010, Gov. Jennifer Granholm commuted the life sentence of a Calhoun County man who had spent 25 years in prison for murder.
There was no physical evidence against Tom Cress. Another man confessed to police but has never been charged.
In 2009, the clinic also won the case of a Detroit man, Dwayne Provience, who was in prison for murder for about 10 years. Police reports that cast doubt on his guilt were never shared at trial.
“The Innocence Clinic has been a fantastic clinic because it’s shining a light on places where we’ve gone wrong as a criminal justice system,” McCormack said.
Supreme Court races lately have been very expensive and negative as Democrats and Republicans compete for control.
McCormack said she’ll probably be knocked for her work on behalf of prisoners if she gets the Democratic nod. Nominees will be picked at a convention on March 10.
“I’m disheartened and discouraged by the way money is used in elections,” she said. “It sometimes makes it not a fair fight. They say things about candidates and they don’t have to be true. I wish we could have a fair fight on the merits.”
McCormack’s husband, Steven Croley, is a White House lawyer.
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