8/7/13 - A defense attorney seeking to overturn a ruling that disqualified him from representing two women charged with illegally selling synthetic marijuana in Genoa Township plans to take the issue to the state Supreme Court. In November, District Court Judge Suzanne Geddis ruled that it would be a conflict of interest for attorney Timothy Corr to simultaneously defend two clients in the same case. The defendants, 41-year-old Ronda Lee Roszak and 27-year-old Melissa Ann Dzierwa, respectively owned and managed the Smokers Depot in Genoa Township. The court made its ruling after the County prosecutorâs Office said it planned to offer a plea deal to one of the two suspects. Corr challenged the ruling in the Michigan Court of Appeals, saying the Sixth Amendment gave his client the right to choose any attorney she wanted, but the court ruled in favor of Geddis. Corr tells WHMI he now plans to appeal the decision to the Michigan Supreme Court. Corr says both defendants previously consulted with separate attorneys and had no plans to accept a plea deal. They maintain that the material which State Police confiscated during a raid in April of 2012 had been purchased at a trade show, along with a lab report indicating it did not contain any illegal chemicals. (TD)
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