Prison a 'blessing in disguise' for jailhouse lawyer who got a new trial and a paralegal job
After years of insisting that he did not commit the carjackings and armed robberies for which he was originally sentenced a decade ago, a Flint, Michigan, man was set free on Monday—at least for now.
A federal judge in Detroit ordered that Omar Rashad Pouncy, 28, be released on a $10,000 personal recognizance bond while the state is appealing the court’s ruling that he should get a new trial, although he must wear an electronic GPS tether. Pouncy’s constitutional right to counsel was violated, the court found, because a Genesee County judge forced him to choose between an unprepared defense lawyer and representing himself at trial, according to the Associated Press, the Detroit Free Press and WXYZ.
Another condition of bond is that Pouncy must work as a paralegal for the pro bono lawyer who helped win his release. This is what Pouncy wanted to do anyway, according to an earlier Detroit Free Press story that discusses his case in detail.
When he defended himself at trial in the carjacking case after being refused a new attorney, Pouncy didn’t know the meaning of common legal terms, he told the newspaper. He was sentenced to an 87- to 141-year prison term. In prison and facing the likelihood of a lifetime behind bars, he gave up recreation time and focused as much as possible on studying the law.
Pouncy explained the problems in his case to court-appointed appellate counsel, who got some of his convictions dismissed, the Free Press says. When his court-appointed counsel had done as much as possible, Pouncy contacted attorney David Moffitt, who agreed to take the appellate case pro bono, although he hopes someday to collect legal fees through a civil action on Pouncy’s behalf.
“When he explained to me what he thought he had,” Moffitt said, “and was able to do it on my own terms, I said, ‘Oh yeah, we got something here.’”
While he says that he has ironclad alibis which should have precluded his conviction in his current case, Pouncy admits that he had a tough childhood and carried a gun and sold drugs as a juvenile.
Ironically, given the way it is now turning out, his imprisonment at 18 likely saved him from a worse fate, he told the Free Press. “I probably still would have been out there selling dope. Or dead,” he told the newspaper. “This is a like a blessing in disguise.”
