Although Michigan courts have spent decades developing criminal procedure, newspapers sometimes have just minutes to describe them.
Mistakes can be costly.
Attorney Herschel Fink, who represents the Free Press in court, illustrates the potential for harm with a case filed against the Battle Creek Enquirer. The newspaper ultimately won the case, but only after 13 years and a million dollars in legal fees. Whether a man had been arrested and charged or just arrested. Fink asked Oakland County Circuit Judges Gene Schnelz and Barry Howard to come to the Free Press to deliver a tag-team crash course in criminal procedure. These are the highlights.