DETROIT (AP) -- Ann Arbor attorney Douglas Mullkoff will work with former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers on the appeal of her prison sentence following a bribery plea.

The Detroit Free Press reports Friday that Mullkoff has been appointed to the case as a substitute for a federal defender.

U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn refused Conyers' requests to withdraw her guilty plea when he sentenced her Wednesday to 37 months in prison. Conyers is to report to prison July 1.

She filed a notice to appeal Wednesday, but her deal with prosecutors prevents Conyers from objecting to a sentence of under five years.

The wife of U.S. Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., suggested she was the victim of "badgering" in 2009 when she admitted taking cash to support a Houston company's sludge-hauling contract with the city.