Listen LIVE Saturday with guest Attorney Michelle S. Cruz,
Advocate for Victims’ Rights.
To listen LIVE at 1-2 Pacific, 4-5 Eastern CLICK HERE
When it comes to the rights of crime victims not too many are in the league of Michelle S. Cruz. Cruz is the former Connecticut State Victim Advocate and in that capacity she has had experience with all kinds of victims from domestic violence to murder and fearlessly defended their rights.
This show will feature two powerhouse attorneys and former prosecutors discussing topics such as victims compensation at Sandy Hook in Newtown, CT to the rights of the victims of Whitey Bulger currently amidst a dramatic federal racketeering trial, and who left countless victims in his wake.
In a society where we feel that the criminals are balancing the scales of justice in their favor, crime victims need so much. Many have no idea exactly what their rights are and how to properly use them, if they don’t know what questions to ask, there aren’t answers they so richly deserve. Michelle Cruz has taken up the cause of speaking out wherever she can for the rights of victims to be upheld.
Attorney Michelle Cruz has over twenty years experience working with crime victims in a myriad of diverse roles. In November of 2007, Governor M. Jodi Rell appointed her as Connecticut’s 2nd State Victim Advocate to head the Office of the Victim Advocate, an independent crime victims’ rights agency. Attorney Cruz diligently fought against the early release program in CT which led to the release of 7,589 violent offenders, including Frankie Resto who murdered Ibrahim Ghazal only few months after being released early.
She has argued numerous motions on behalf of CT crime victims, including a successful argument that allowed Dr. William Petit, the surviving family member of the Cheshire ,CT triple homicide, to attend the entire capital felony murder trial. She was also successful in advocating for the creation of a State Missing Persons Unit within the CT’s Department of Emergency Services and Public Protection.
Attorney MARGARET MCLEAN is a law professor, former prosecutor, and on-air legal analyst. She is the author of the critically acclaimed legal thriller Under Fire, which features an arson and murder trial (2011, Tor Forge Macmillan). Her second novel, Under Oath, (April, 2012) is about the code of silence murders in Boston. She has co-written a dramatic courtroom play, based on Under Oath, which is in development with the Playwrights/Directors Unit at the Actor’s Studio in New York City. She is co-authoring a book about the trial with Jon Leiberman titled “The Gavel Strikes: U.S. versus James ‘Whitey’ Bulger.”
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