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A Prisoner's Tale

Woman whose life sentence was overturned
may need a heart transplant.

LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer

111

Michigan before she was extradited
following the arrest of two associates
on cocaine delivery charges.
Rabbi David Nelson, of Beth
Shalom synagogue in Oak Park, said a
return to the Plymouth prison while
awaiting trial "would be the end."

indy Brass got a second
trial, but what she really
needs, she says, is a sec-
ond heart.
Brass, 40, of San Diego,
Calif., was convicted seven years
ago of setting up a cocaine deliv-
ery in Troy. But her life sentence
was overturned last July by an
appellate court ruling that said
the prosecution had withheld
evidence that could have helped
her defense.
She suffered a massive heart
attack in 1994 in the Scott
Correctional Facility in Plymouth
and now her doctor, Keith
Aaronson of the University of
Michigan, says she needs a heart
transplant. He said she is in the
fourth and final stage of conges-
tive heart failure and is first on the
transplant list for her blood type
at the University of Michigan hos-
pital. The question of who is eligi-
ble for a heart transplant is gener-
ally left to individual transplant
centers; national rules do not bar
transplants for prisoners.
Prosecutors decided last year
not to appeal the decision over-
Mindy Brass, with her daughter Erika.
turning her conviction but to try
her a second time. The trial began a
"Where's the compassion in the sys-
month ago, before Judge Meyer
tem?"
Nelson asked. "I'm anxious for
Warshawsky in Oakland County
her
to
get
on with her life. If she goes
Circuit Court in Pontiac, but it was
back to jail, it's a death sentence.
frequently interrupted because Brass
Nelson first met Brass after reading
was too sick to sit in the courtroom.
of her story in The Jewish News on
The judge, who has imposed an
Nov. 8, 1996. They regularly spoke
order barring Brass and attorneys from
during her stay in prison, and since
both sides from commenting on the
her release, she goes to services regu-
case, said he wanted a second medical
larly at Beth Shalom, despite not
opinion on her health and suspended
being able to sit for long periods of
the trial Jan. 21.
time. She also takes Nelson's Judaism
A Feb. 10 hearing will feature Brass'
class.
physician, who is the medical director
Nelson's gripe is that Brass is a vic-
of the adult cardiac transplant center at
tim
of "the most unfair" drug law in
U of M, and a yet-to-be-selected doctor
the
country
— a mandatory life se.n-
who will examine Brass for the prose-
tence
without
parole for anyone con-
cution. The hearing will determine
victed
of
delivery
or conspiracy to
whether Brass is healthy enough to stay
deliver more than a pound of a mix-
in jail until her trial resumes April 12,
ture containing cocaine or heroine.
or if she will remain out on bond and
"She's served eight-and-a-half years
monitored by an electronic tether.
already,"
Nelson said. "She's been vic-
Brass, now living with a family in
timized
enough."
Li
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2/5
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Detroit Jewish News

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