Constitutional Defenders

Join The Defenders as they speak with Marla Mitchell-Cichon, who is the director of the Western Michigan University-Cooley Innocence Project. Marla and her team represented Ledura Watkins - a man who was wrongfully convicted in 1976 of murder due largely to scientifically invalid evidence. Ledura spent over 41 years in prison until he was exonerated. In this episode, Marla discusses what led to Ledura's exoneration and the process that she and her team went through to help get him released.

In this episode, Mary, Takura, and Lizzy speak with Attorney Robert Burton-Harris about race in the criminal justice system and his case dubbed the "Gardening While Black" case. Robert's client was falsely accused of numerous crimes by three white women in Detroit, when he was doing nothing more than gardening in a community garden - while being black.

Welcome to episode 2! Curious or - more likely - confused about recreational marijuana use in Michigan? Mary, Takura, and Lizzy discuss the new laws surrounding CannaBusiness and recreational use with CannaBusiness Attorney Bob Hendricks. Long live Lizzyville!

Mary Chartier, Takura Nyamfukudza, Lizzy Cary, and Kim Barrus of Chartier & Nyamfukudza, P.L.C., speak with Kim Tomasik about her husband's case. Her husband, Dennis Tomasik, spent 9 years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Kim discusses what she and her family had to go through during those 9 years, and all that she did to help exonerate her husband.