Former Detroit City Council member Monica Conyers, the corrupt wife of Rep. John Conyers, who is serving time in a West Virginia federal prison, is appealing a ruling by the sentencing judge, who refused to let her withdraw her guilty plea before sentencing, the Detroit News reports.
Her lawyer claims in papers filed with the Court of Appeals that Conyers was unable to resist pressure to plead guilty from her lawyer, the government and the news media, the News reported. She has a law degree, but was inexperienced in the criminal system the court papers said.
“That inexperience coupled with the intense public scrutiny of the matter caused her to momentarily surrender to the pressure to plead,” her lawyer Douglas R. Mullkoff wrote, according to the News. He is asking that the case be returned to the U.S. District Court for a hearing.
Conyers, a divisive figure on the city council, was sentenced to 37 months in prison. She pleaded guilty in June 2009 to taking at least $6,000 in cash bribes.
