OCBA seminar scheduled on ‘Marijuana + Minors’
Thursday, Aug. 12 is the date of a 90-minute seminar titled “Marijuana + Minors,” offered by the Oakland County Bar Association.
The seminar will feature attorney Lisa Harris of the Family Division of the Oakland County Circuit Court, and will run from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“According to recent studies, over 35 percent of 12th-graders had used marijuana in the last year, making it the most common illicit drug used in the United States,” said a spokesperson for the OCBA. “During this seminar, we will examine how marijuana use affects the adolescent user both physically and mentally. Marijuana use can also lead to problems in school and with the legal system. Find out valuable information necessary to help you represent your juvenile client.”
The seminar is worth 1.5 hours of juvenile and criminal credit for attorneys on Oakland County appointment lists.
To register, visit www.ocba.org or call (248) 334-3400.
Man clears hurdle for pay years after wrongful conviction
DETROIT (AP) — A man sent to prison for a drug crime has cleared a hurdle in a bid to get state compensation for a wrongful conviction in a case with unusual circumstances.
Evidence that would have helped David Maples wasn't available to him when he decided to plead guilty, the Michigan Supreme Court said Tuesday in a 5-2 opinion.
The decision sets another precedent for a relatively new law that pays people $50,000 a year for each year spent in prison on a wrongful conviction.
Maples insisted he had no role in a cocaine deal with an undercover police officer in a bar in 1993. But he ended up pleading guilty in Macomb County court when a co-defendant wouldn't testify in Maples' favor under the terms of his own plea bargain.
Maples' conviction, however, was ultimately reversed by a federal appeals court based on a claim of ineffective counsel.
Years later, he filed a lawsuit seeking compensation from the state based on a 2017 law known as WICA. The law says someone with a conviction overturned because of "new evidence" is eligible for payment.
Maples said a co-defendant, James Murphy, would have cleared him if he had been allowed to testify in Circuit Court. He noted that Murphy had testified during an earlier stage in the case.
"So long as the evidence was not presented at a proceeding where guilt was decided — that is, a trial or a hearing where a plea was entered — the WICA considers it 'new,'" Chief Justice Bridget McCormack said.
The case will return to the Michigan Court of Appeals.
Maples spent roughly eight years in prison, attorney Mark Bendure said.
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/subscriptions
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
