Democrats: always living at the public trough

Rep. Conyers won't help his wife pay for a lawyer
By: David Freddoso

Ex-councilwoman Conyers pleaded guilty to conspiracy last summer and admitted taking cash in exchange for supporting a billion-dollar sewage sludge contract. (AP / Osorio)
The National Law Journal reports that former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, wife of House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., has been declared indigent by a federal judge. That means she gets a public defender in her attempt to appeal her three-year prison sentence on a bribery charge to which she pleaded guilty.
[Conyers] says she can't afford a lawyer...despite the fact that her husband — who is the second-longest serving current member of the U.S. House of Representatives — makes $174,000 a year....The court said that Monica Conyers provided information that established her inability to pay for a lawyer, including "a detailed description of her financial resources in the presentence investigation report and [the information] that Mrs. Conyers was on her own — so to speak — as to such resources." Therefore, the court said, "Further inquiry was not appropriate and would have intruded on private matters."
The article notes that according to federal guidelines, a family member's wealth cannot be considered when determining a defendant's ability to pay, "unless the family indicates willingness and financial ability to retain counsel promptly.