This much is known: Monica Conyers now has a court-appointed appellate lawyer, paid for by taxpayers’ dollars.
The question remains: How could she be married to U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. — one of the longest tenured members of Congress – and unable to afford counsel?
“That’s a good question,” Wayne State University law professor Peter Henning said Monday. “It could be that their assets are separate, even though they are married.”
John Conyers, who did not attend his wife’s sentencing in the federal courthouse in Detroit last Wednesday — though he was upstairs in his office in the same building — made a $174,000 salary last year. A spokeswoman at his office declined to comment Monday.
Monica Conyers’ new lawyer, Douglas Mullkoff of Ann Arbor, also declined to comment Monday. He’s representing the former Detroit city councilwoman in her appeal of a 37-month prison sentence she received for her bribery conspiracy guilty plea.
Bill Ballenger, publisher of Inside Michigan Politics, said the situation is definitely curious.
“If John Conyers jumped in himself and said, ‘Oh my God, we have to appeal this and I’ll pay for an attorney,’ that probably would cause him a lot more problems personally and politically than what’s going on now,” Ballenger said. “The idea that he is unwilling to help her, or she doesn’t have any access to his money, is probably good for John Conyers.
“But it also raises questions about what kind of marriage they have.”
Monica Conyers’ previous lawyer, Steven Fishman, who represented her in the bribery matter, maintains that she is, in fact, indigent.
“She didn’t have any money then,” Fishman said Monday. “And she doesn’t have any money now.”
Miriam Siefer, chief of the Federal Defender Office in Detroit, said in appointment cases, “the court reviews a financial affidavit that lists assets and liabilities, including bank accounts, creditors and dependents, and makes a determination as to whether you can retain counsel.”
Conyers “signed such an affidavit, stating she lacks the financial resources to enable her to pay for an attorney,” U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn, who handled Conyers’ case, said in a statement Monday.
Siefer said judiciary guidelines for indigent clients generally don’t consider a spouse’s finances unless the family indicates willingness and ability to pay.
“You really look to the individual person standing before you,” she said.
Source:Freep.com/ Ben Schmitt
