LANSING, MI (WHTC) – A former state legislator from the Lakeshore has been appointed to the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission.
Governor Snyder’s office announced on Friday that Joe Haveman will serve a four-year term, through April 1st of 2021, on the 15-member panel that recommends improvements to the state’s legal defense system as it pertains to low-income criminal defendants. A one-time Holland City Councilman and Ottawa County Commissioner, the Holland Republican served three two-year terms in the state House before becoming the director of government affairs for the Hope Network when he left Lansing in 2015. Haveman has maintained an interest in Michigan’s prison system since his days on the House Corrections Committee.
In addition to appointing Haveman to replace Richard Lindsey, Mr. Snyder also reappointed another former state lawmaker, Thomas McMillin of the Detroit suburb of Rochester Hills, to the MIDC.
