Student sues Monroe schools for sexual harassment, bullying by teacher
A lawsuit from a Monroe honor student alleges sexual harassment, retaliation and bullying from a teacher and says the school district did nothing about it.
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SBM 39th Michigan Legal Milestone Celebrates Soapy Williams and Ferris State
The State Bar of Michigan dedicated the 39th Michigan Legal Milestone at noon on Thursday, Aug. 28, on the campus of Ferris State University. The milestone celebrates the perseverance of Governor G. Mennen “Soapy” Williams in ensuring that Ferris State University became a public university, even after the majority of campus burned down in a devastating fire in February of 1950. For more information, read a Michigan Bar Journal article about the most recent milestone. Visit the Michigan Legal Milestones website for more information on the program, overseen by the SBM Law Related Education and Public Outreach Committee, chaired by…
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Governor Appoints Mark Braunlich To Monroe County Circuit Court
Governor Rick Snyder has appointed Mark S. Braunlich, Monroe County district judge, to fill the vacancy created by the retirement of 38th Circuit Court Judge Michael LaBeau. Judge Braunlich has served on the district court bench since 2003, and served as chief judge from 2008-2010. Prior to that he served as Monroe County assistant prosecuting attorney. He is the board president for Monroe Center for Healthy Aging and a past president of the Monroe County Bar Association. He is a graduate of Notre Dame University, and earned his law degree at the University of Toledo. Posted by Samantha Meinke
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SBM recognizes law firms for doing pro bono service in 2014 Circle of Excellence
The State Bar of Michigan is proud to announce the 2014 Pro Bono Circle of Excellence, which recognizes every firm that fully complied with the State Bar Voluntary Pro Bono Standard during the 2013 calendar year. “Lawyers have a unique ethical responsibility to support legal services for the poor, and the law firms recognized today in the 2014 Circle of Excellence are our leaders in this important obligation,” said SBM Executive Director Janet Welch. Posted by Samantha Meinke
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What do lawyers and home health care workers have in common?
According to today’s U.S. Supreme Court decision Harris v. Quinn, not much. Mandatory state bars, including Michigan’s, were watching Harris closely (see the amicus brief submitted by 21 past presidents of the District of Columbia Bar), worried that if, as some amici urged, the court repudiated the seminal Michigan public union case Abood v. Detroit Board of Education, the decision would undermine the reasoning of Keller v. State Bar of California, the case defining what mandatory state bars are allowed to do, because Keller referred to Abood by analogy. Instead, the decision today expressly offers this reassurance to mandatory state…
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A Lawyer Helps: G. Christopher Bernard saves more than a minivan
When Mr. L’s minivan broke down and required expensive repairs, he was in danger of losing more than his method of transportation. He was also on the verge of becoming homeless. Because he couldn’t pay to have the van fixed, the repair shop declared it abandoned and the police impounded it and prepared to have it towed for scrap. That’s when Chris Bernard, an attorney at Bodman in Ann Arbor, stepped in to provide pro bono legal counsel to Mr. L. Find out how he helped Mr. L and worked with the city attorney to ensure nobody else ever faced…
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Michigan Board of Law Examiners Announces Changes to the Bar Exam
The Michigan Board of Law Examiners announced that they have created a new and improved scoring system for the Michigan Bar Exam that they will begin to utilize while scoring the July 29 exam. The BLE says they expect the new scoring system to more accurately measure test takers’ competence by ensuring that essay test scores across administrations reflect the same skill level and reflect differences in the difficulty between the multiple choice and essay portions of the exam. The Michigan Bar Exam is administrated each February and July, and has two parts: a 200-question multiple choice multistate bar exam…
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SBM Congratulates Young Lawyers Section for Winning ABA Awards of Achievement
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The State Bar of Michigan congratulates the SBM Young Lawyers Section for winning First Place Awards of Achievement in two out of four categories from the American Bar Association Young Lawyers Division, as well as the Outstanding Public Service Award from the American Bar Endowment. The awards were presented at the ABA Annual Meeting in Boston on Aug. 9. The SBM YLS won the Comprehensive Award of Achievement for the full breadth of new and expanded programs they offer throughout the 2013-2014 bar year, including their New Member Orientation, Sports & Entertainment Symposium, Annual Summit, public speaking workshop, immigration law…
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U.S. Department of Justice Seek Applicants for Attorney General Programs
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The United States Department of Justice seeks applicants for the Attorney General’s Honors Program and the Summer Law Intern Program. Law students and eligible graduates can apply for the program online before Sept. 2. There are 207 Honors Program positions, including openings in the following components: Antitrust Division (14) Civil Division (29) Civil Rights Division (12) Criminal Division (12) Regular Trial Attorney (8) – These are permanent positions. Asset Forfeiture Fellowship Program (4) – This is a three-year fellowship which may be extended or converted to a permanent position. Drug Enforcement Administration (3) Environment & Natural Resources Division (15) Executive…
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The Innocence Clinic Takes on a 24 Year Old Murder Case
The Innocence clinic of the University of Michigan’s law school represents convicts that were sentenced as guilty when they were innocent. The innocence clinic helps these individuals gather the information for their new trials, or appeals, to prove that they were wrongly convicted of the crime they were charged with. In this case, a man was convicted of fatally shooting two hunters in their back in 1990. Although there were no witnesses to the shooting, and after waiting 11 years, the accused was charged with the murder of these two hunters, and the Innocence clinic is representing the accused because they claim there is evidence that was not allowed to be presented in the original trial in 2001.
KALAMAZOO (AP) — Lawyers for a man convicted of fatally shooting two hunters in the back in 1990 asked a judge Aug. 19 to reopen the case, saying critical evidence that would have helped the defense never surfaced at trial 12 years later.
The Innocence Clinic at University of Michigan’s law school is representing Jeff Titus, who is serving a life sentence for the deaths of Doug Estes and Jim Bennett.
They were shot while in the Fulton State Game Area, which was adjacent to Titus’ property in Kalamazoo County. There were no witnesses to the shooting, but trial witnesses said he had a history of aggressively confronting people who entered his land.
Titus, now 62, wasn’t charged until 2001.
“Mr. Titus is innocent and this court should grant him a new trial,” the clinic, led by David Moran, said in a court filing.
“Mr. Titus’ conviction followed a trial in which the jury was only presented with part of the story — a trial in which crucial witnesses were never called, unreliable evidence was never questioned, and exculpatory evidence was never presented,” lawyers said.
County Prosecutor Jeff Getting, who wasn’t in office when Titus went to trial in 2002, declined to comment.
“It’s a lengthy pleading. … My office will be reviewing it in its entirety and will reply if ordered to by the court,” Getting said.
Two sheriff’s department detectives who interviewed Titus and others believed his alibi that he was hunting about 30 miles away at the time of the shootings. But the investigators were never called as defense witnesses at trial, the Innocence Clinic said.
“It would have been particularly compelling given the lack of physical evidence connecting Mr. Titus to the crime,” his lawyers said.
At trial in 2002, prosecutors acknowledged that Titus was hunting miles away near Battle Creek but said he drove home and killed Estes and Bennett.
The Innocence Clinic takes cases when it believes someone has been convicted based on false confessions, bad evidence, poor defense work or misconduct by prosecutors.
News source: http://www.freep.com/article/20140819/NEWS06/308190059/U-M-law-Michigan-hunters-deaths