Law Students

A Prisoner's Best Friend

By Scott Felsenthal et al.

Thanks to a law school buddy for passing the following story along to me...

Michael Ray, a prisoner in a facility near Columbia, South Carolina, has been locked up numerous times in the past for participating in all kinds of fraud and embezzlement schemes. Ray was quoted as stating, ""I just have a real problem with financial institutions, and I'm a self-proclaimed addicted gambler." Ray seems just like any other non-violent criminal, but what makes his story unique?

The following is taken from a MSNBC news article which can be viewed in its entirety by clicking here:

While other prisoners are lifting weights or playing basketball, Michael Ray is working 40 hours a week, his head buried in legal texts and journals. Over the years, the jailhouse lawyer has helped dozens of fellow inmates file appeals, sometimes with success.

But recently Ray secured an achievement rarely seen by even the most experienced of attorneys on the outside: The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear arguments in one of his cases.

 

Legal experts estimate the high court accepts less than 1 percent of the thousands of cases it receives each year. The court's action was even more extraordinary in this instance, because the appeal was drawn up by a prisoner who earns 29 cents an hour and does not even have a college degree, much less a law school education...

Like I said, Ray is a prisoner's best friend.

Full post as published by The Legal Scoop on February 08, 2008 (boomark / email).