(AP) -- Former Detroit councilwoman Monica Conyers is relying on a court-appointed lawyer to pursue an appeal of her prison sentence for corruption. That means the public will pick up the tab, even though Conyers' husband John, a Detroit congressman and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, is paid $174,000 a year.

Monica Conyers signed an affidavit declaring she can't afford a lawyer. Steve Fishman, the attorney who negotiated her guilty plea, says she has no money. An appeal of the 37-month prison sentence Conyers received last week has been assigned to Douglas Mullkoff of Ann Arbor.

The grounds for an appeal are unclear. Her plea deal bars an appeal if the sentence was less than five years.

A message seeking comment from John Conyers was left with a spokeswoman Tuesday evening.

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