DETROIT — Years ago, when I was covering a high-profile Jack Kevorkian trial for the national media, the judge would recess the proceedings every so often and work through a parade of mostly poor and homeless defendants charged with mostly petty crimes.

The sullen or bewildered defendants would stand there with their bored public defenders as the judge droned through his docket, pausing to ask if they accepted their plea deals. When one seemingly addled defendant interrupted to mention the Archangel Gabriel, the irritated judge gaveled him into silence and told his court-appointed lawyer to come back when his client was under control.

I thought this was depressing, sad, and wrong, but I never tried to do anything about it.

But Tanya Grillo has done something about it — and is attempting

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