Sunday, January 9, 2011

Letter Cites Indigent Defense System

Regarding “Tipping point: Answers sought for indigent defense” (The Oklahoman/Our Views, Dec. 30): As has been demonstrated by “innocence projects” around the country, many innocent people are in our prisons. My son David, co-director of the University of Michigan Innocence Project, told me that the majority of wrongfully-convicted inmates are in prison because of inadequate or incompetent counsel. In addition to the injustice, this is costly. In our justice system, everyone has a right to counsel. Without a sufficiently-funded indigent defense system, the accused will be defended by lawyers who normally do contracts or divorces. Oklahoma has a good indigent defense system. Let's not mess it up. Melvin Moran, Seminole

Share |