Ok... The gloves come off, due to the latest lawyer's failure (Attorney name withheld at Wil's request ) to file my parole appeal into the Michigan Court of Appeals within the (56) fifty-six day time limit. In fact I had a (21) twenty-one day right to appeal that was initially passed by due to what the lawyer told me were "personal problems at home..." that had spilled over into the law office caseload.

On January 30, 2000 the Michigan Court of Appeals denied my parole appeal filed by attorney Travis Ballard's law office. The living hell I went through just getting it into the Court of Appeals caused me to ask if he would file it into the next higher court. In fact, Gregory Singer (who chairs a volunteer advocacy effort on my behalf by the National Coalition of Free Men) and others contacted Mr. XXX personally and he agreed to take responsibility for critiquing the brief and filing it in a timely matter into the Michigan Supreme Court. Further, advocates Gregory Singer and Tom Williamson forwarded funds to cover the filing fees and the attorney fees for this to be done. IT WAS NOT FILED !!!!

The initial twenty-one days went by and I called attorney XXX . He said much had come up but not to worry and he'd have it filed by the fifty-six day limit. I assisted by sending him a copy of several recent cases decided by the federal courts which could be used to bolster my appeal. He even told me again on March 17, 2001 that it would be filed. The next time I was able to contact him, via telephone, was on March 29, 2001. I asked if he would please send me a copy of the filing.... He got quiet, then... said: "I fucked up and it did not get filed." ..... Mr. XXX caused my parole appeal to die in procedure.

I have been fighting for my right to have my parole appealed since 1997. Since then a statute was passed eliminating a prisoner's right to appeal a parole board's decision. Because my appeal predated the statute I continued to have this right as long as certain filing deadlines were met. I feel that my attorney deliberately sabotaged my attempts to get an appeal because of the controversial nature of my case and his involvement with behind the scenes politics. Elements in my case challenged the system sufficiently to possibly alter the way parole cases would be handled for all prisoners in the state. If there is any other reason for his failure it has not been brought to my attention. In fact, Mr. XXX said he would be sending me a letter explaining the death of my appeal and his failure to execute it.... but to date I have not received any correspondence from him and he will not accept my calls from prison!

I trusted this attorney and believed he would do as he said he would. I believed he would faithfully execute my appellate process into the highest Michigan court. Moreover, to my knowledge he has not returned the funds accepted by him to carry out this parole appeal!

I am so depressed and my trust broken that I don't know what to do, say, think, feel... I am about 15 years beyond being able to do this any more.

William J. Hetherington