LANSING (WKZO-AM) — Lorinda Swain will have to spend a few more months on pins and needles waiting to learn if the Michigan Supreme Court will grant her a new trial on criminal sexual misconduct charges.
The question before the justices on Wednesday wasn’t whether she was guilty or innocent, but whether she got a fair trial the first time.
Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Clark insists that the defense had access to all the witnesses and just didn’t call a few of them.
Swain’s attorney, David Moran, who is also the Director of the University of Michigan Innocence Project, says the original defense attorney in the case and Swain had no idea that bitter ex-boyfriend Dennis Book would testify that she was innocent.
They claim the prosecutor did know it and should have informed them.
The justices aren’t being asked to exonerate her, only to grant her a new trial.
If they rule against her, she could be headed back to prison to finish a 25-to-50 year sentence.
Their decision should come down sometime this summer.
