Daily Briefs

Attorney affiliated with Serial podcast to speak Feb. 3 at Wayne State


Rabia Chaudry, the attorney who introduced Adnan Syed’s case to the “Serial” podcast creator will speak Friday, Feb. 3 at Wayne State University.

This free lecture will be from 6 to 8 p.m. in the Student Center’s Hilberry Rooms A, B and C, 5221 Gullen Mall. Light refreshments will be served. The presentation is hosted by Wayne State University Law School’s Muslim Law Students Association.

In 2000, Syed was convicted of killing his former high school girlfriend, despite claiming his innocence. His story is at the center of the first season of “Serial,” a podcast from the creators of This American Life, hosted by Sarah Koenig. “Serial” tells one true story over the course of a season.

Chaudry is Syed’s public advocate as well as a wife, mother, author and attorney. She is a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow at the United States Institute of Peace, where she researches the intersection of religion, violent extremism and CVE (countering violent extremism). Chaudry also is an International Security Fellow with New America. Additionally, she is the co-producer and co-host of the podcast Undisclosed, which has more than 80 million downloads. Her book, Adnan’s Story, was published in August 2016.

Chaudry earned her J.D. from George Mason University School of Law and practiced immigration and civil rights law for more than a decade.

For more information on this event, contact Muslim Law Students Association President Husnah Khan, at FK8065@wayne.edu.

 

Juvenile lifer eligible for parole after 38 years
 

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A Kalamazoo man originally sentenced to life in prison as a juvenile is now eligible for parole after serving 38 years for a 1979 slaying.

MLive reports that in a resentencing Tuesday, a circuit court judge sentenced 55-year-old Anthony Jones to 30 to 60 years and gave him credit for more than 38 years served. Jones was sentenced by the judge in February 2012 to life in prison with the possibility of parole, but changes in state Legislature relating to sentencing juveniles convicted of homicides allowed Jones to have the opportunity to be resentenced.

Jones both planned and participated in the robbery of a Kalamazoo store Jan. 4, 1979, where he struck the store owner but fled the scene before another teenager fatally shot the man. Jones was originally sentenced to life without parole for felony murder.

 

Husband, wife charged in stabbing death
 

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A husband and wife are charged in the stabbing death of the woman’s father in northern Michigan.

Forty-seven-year-old Brian Degroot and 27-year-old Jessica Degroot are jailed on $10 million bonds after being arraigned Tuesday on charges including open murder.

Investigators believe Brian Degroot killed 54-year-old Michael Brandt at Brandt's Springfield Township house and Jessica Degroot helped clean up. Brian Degroot also faces a torture charge.

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