In the past ten-years, my law firm has produced a few short video clips to promote our mission statement. We have enjoyed just a few very slim slices of public exposure during this decade.

This 600th post publishes some of our best clips from the past 10-years. Take a look...

The very first clip features a closing argument following a three-day trial in a drunk driving case before the legendary Oakland Circuit Judge Steven Andrews way back in 2009. This poor-quality video was purchased from the Oakland County Circuit Court Administrator prior to the Court's ban on disseminating such videos of court proceedings.

This second clip features a panel discussion involving my first case before the Michigan Supreme Court back in 2006. Probably for the legal professionals among our readers.

Then we produced our first marketing video in 2010, designed for social media distribution. The colors were good, and the "actors" are actual clients. We really got a lot of mileage out of this short little clip.

Here is another throwback to the Oakland Circuit Court from 2009; a sentencing hearing for one of our few homicide cases. Now-retired and long-serving Oakland Circuit Judge Ed Sosnick can be seen presiding over the hearing. Our client pled to leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death; she was sentenced to 6-months in the "work-release" program.

More recently, I was able to generate a clip resulting from one of my rare appearances before the Michigan Supreme Court in People v Robertson; a case involving the "search and seizure" clause of the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Boy, am I ever getting grey...

Finally, last year, we got it together and produced this gem with a pair of our best clients ever.

Time really does fly when you are having fun; this is certainly true in the professional setting.

If you or a loved one are facing the rough waters of a divorce or criminal charge, give us a call to discuss your options in a free  consultation.

Post #600
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Retired Oakland Circuit
Judge Edward Sosnick

By:  Timothy P. Flynn

As a young lawyer in the early 90s, I accepted an unusual professional gig.  In order to become an adjunct law professor at my law school alma mater, University of Detroit, they wanted me to first teach law and prisoners' civil rights to female inmates at the now-closed Scott Correctional Facility in Plymouth, MI, under a federally mandated education program.

What struck me about the inmate students back then were the number of women convicted of the so-called "drug lifer law".  If you were convicted of delivery of more than 650 grams of cocaine or heroin, your sentence was life without the possibility of parole.

In the late 90s, former Governor John Engler, a pretty conservative governor, signed the rescission of that law.  In doing so, the Legislature and the Governor made the rescission retroactive to the hundreds of convicts that were racking-up decades of prison time in the MDOC.  Soon after the law was executed, all of the drug-lifers were paroled with time served.

Fast forward to this week, and we see a group of retired circuit court judges calling for our state legislature to take action on the juvenile lifer law; specifically, to pass legislation making the rescission of the law retroactive to the nearly 350 inmates doing life sentences for capital convictions when they were juveniles.

What really caught my attention was that Retired Oakland Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick was among the judges signing the Freep editorial.  Judge Sosnick was a good judge.  Whenever I had a client standing before Judge Sosnick at a sentencing hearing, I always walked away thinking my client received a fair sentence.

Here is issue framed in a nutshell: SCOTUS ruled in 2012 that state juvenile lifer laws violated the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against "cruel and unusual" punishment.  In their wisdom, however, the High Court was silent as to the retroactive application of their ruling, leaving the states to figure out what to do with their aging populations of the juvenile-convicted.

Here in Michigan, the Attorney General won a legal battle a few months back at the Michigan Supreme Court in a case holding that the rescission of the juvenile lifer ban does not apply retroactively.  In arguing the case, the Michigan AG focused on the rights of the victims; most often, the families of individuals that were murdered by the juvenile lifers now so desperate for parole.

As the retired trial judges know, however, not all of those 350 convicted juvenile lifers were cold-blooded juvenile murders; some of those convictions were based on sketchy evidence; some of the juveniles had highly attenuated involvement in the murders for which they were convicted.  Also notable in the legal battle were the 110 former prosecutors and trial judges that filed an amicus brief in the Michigan Supreme Court case calling for retroactive application of the rescission.

Here at the Law Blogger, we'd bet that each of the judges that signed the Freep editorial calling for retroactive application of the rescission of the juvenile lifer ban presided over some of the trials of the convicted lifers.  We'd also bet that the retired judges occasionally saw juveniles charged, tried, and acquitted on capital offenses, dodging the bullet of a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

If the group of 350 juvenile lifers, believed to be the largest in the nation, have any chance at parole, it will have to come from the Michigan Legislature as the highest courts have spoken.

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Honorable Edward Sosnick

Since we last addressed this topic, some things have changed.  Although former 51st District Court Judge Phyllis McMillen is now installed at 1200 N. Telegraph, she was assigned to a general docket courtroom (civil matters and criminal felonies) rather than the Family Court Division, as we previously reported.

Also, Oakland County Family Court Judge James Alexander did not take over departed Judge Mark Goldsmith's docket but rather, is scheduled to "swap dockets" with long-time Oakland County Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick.

The last time Judge Sosnick handled a divorce was prior to the statutory creation of the Family Court back in 1998.  As a seasoned jurist, however, he will acclimate quickly to the divorce docket as he rides-out his last two years on the bench.

Finally, long-time Oakland Family Court and Probate Judge Eugene Moore is retiring from the bench at the end of the year.  His replacement will be determined via the November 2 election between candidates Kathleen Ryan and Dana Hathaway.

If you lose track of your newly assigned judge, reassignments can be tracked by using the Oakland County Circuit Court's Court Explorer.

Be sure to vote on November 2, and don't forget to make your selection for judge on the non-partisan ballot!

info@clarkstonlegal.com

www.clarkstonlegal.com