Michigan Supreme Court: Fundamentally Unfair to Deny Indigent Defendant Funds to Retain False Confession Expert Where Genuineness of Confession Key Issue at Trial

by Sam Rutherford

The Supreme Court of Michigan held that it is fundamentally unfair to deny an indigent defendant’s request for funds to retain an expert on false or coerced confessions where the veracity of the defendant’s confession is a central issue at trial.

Background

In 2016, Damon E. Warner …