Lorinda's journey to freedom is prolonged once again due to the continued and sadly ridiculous efforts of the Calhoun County prosecutor, Susan K. Mladenoff.

After the original sentencing judge, Judge Sindt, ordered a retrial, the prosecutor had no case. The original case was entirely based on the testimony of two young men, who, following Lorinda's conviction, immediately recanted their testimonies and have maintained their recantations ever since. With no case left to speak of, justice and decency would argue to simply choose not to retry Lorinda's case and set her free. But in a last ditch effort at "saving face" and an "I win/you lose at all cost" mentality, Susan K. Mladenoff chose to appeal the judge's decision! The appeals court summarily denied it.

So, what now is the prosecutor's response? Drop the case? Absolutely not! She has indicated her intention to appeal the ruling to the Michigan Supreme Court, a move with less chance of being heard than the earlier appeal. She now has 56 days from September 10th, November 5th, to make the appeal.

Our criminal justice system is like some people, who try to do the right thing, and often do; that is, until an embarrassing mistake is made. Then these peoples' real character comes out. They become defensive, make excuses, blame others, or continue to maintain they are right, while everyone else knows they are wrong.

There are times in our criminal justice system when a mistake is exposed (nothing is perfect). Sometimes sadly, the system's purpose no longer remains justice, but becomes something entirely different. It chooses to try to win at all cost to protect it's pride with no concern that a miscarriage of justice needs to be righted; no concern that the perpetrator now is the government and the victims are the people it is sworn to protect. Would that our criminal justice system's character would run a little deeper! It is at these points that the greatest damage is done. Innocent families' lives are ruined and the system's reputation created on that day never leaves our consciousness no matter how many times afterwards the system does the right thing. In the back of our minds, what if a mistake is made with me or my loved one? Will my life be ruined simply because the system won't admit it made a mistake?