Clutch Connects — Issue 02
Read the record. Find the pattern.
16 terms. Four hidden groups. One disputed district.
How to play: Click the terms you think belong together — selected tiles turn pink. When you think you have a group of four, reveal it using the buttons below the grid. Watch out for the disputed district: one term looks like it belongs somewhere else. Reveal the disputed district note when you’re ready.
The terms
Things that happen before a trial starts
ARRAIGNMENT • BAIL HEARING • DISCOVERY • MOTION IN LIMINE
Pretrial procedural stages every defendant passes through.
What a judge can be disqualified for
BIAS • EX PARTE CONTACT • FINANCIAL INTEREST • PRIOR RULING
Grounds for judicial recusal under Michigan court rules.
Michigan’s court hierarchy, lowest to highest
DISTRICT COURT • CIRCUIT COURT • COURT OF APPEALS • SUPREME COURT
Michigan’s four-tier court structure, in ascending order of authority.
Ways a conviction can be undone
APPEAL • EXPUNGEMENT • HABEAS CORPUS • PARDON
Post-conviction relief mechanisms available in Michigan.
The disputed district this week: PRIOR RULING looks like a pretrial step — judges issue rulings before trial all the time. But a judge’s prior ruling in the same matter is a recognized ground for recusal, making it a disqualification factor, not a procedural stage.
EXPUNGEMENT may also tempt you toward the pretrial group since it involves court process — but it only applies after conviction, placing it firmly in post-conviction relief.
EXPUNGEMENT may also tempt you toward the pretrial group since it involves court process — but it only applies after conviction, placing it firmly in post-conviction relief.
From the editor
The patterns in these puzzles are fictional. The ones in Michigan’s courts aren’t. Rita maps those for a living.
