EDITORIAL

Free Press judicial endorsements for Aug. 2 primary

Detroit Free Press Editorial Board
Voters head to the polls in August to narrow down the candidates in several judicial races.

Tuesday’s primary election will feature nonpartisan contests for six open seats on the circuit courts serving Wayne County and Macomb County as well as district court vacancies in Detroit (two seats), Southfield and Waterford (one seat each).

Circuit and district judges are among the elected officials voters are most likely to encounter in their workaday lives, and their authority within the walls of their courtrooms and relative immunity from electoral challenge endows them with tremendous unilateral power over litigants’ lives, especially for the vast majority who lack the resources to appeal the trial court’s ruling.

So choosing judges who know and understand the law, prepare diligently and dispense justice with integrity and impartiality is crucial  to protecting ordinary citizens from frivolous lawsuits or unscrupulous prosecutors.

► Michigan Voters' Guide: Hear straight from the candidates
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Unfortunately, the low profile of judicial campaigns and a dearth of information about the candidates makes casting an informed vote especially difficult. Even incumbent judges and the lawyers who practice before them confess that they know next to nothing about the candidates whose names they encounter on the nonpartisan judicial ballot.

In evaluating voters’ options in Tuesday’s primary, we have attempted to identify judicial candidates whose legal experience, demonstrated work ethic, and demeanor in dealing with clients, witnesses and opposing counsel makes them most likely to serve honestly and capably.

Besides evaluating the same Michigan Voter Guide questionnaires that anyone with Web access can peruse at freep.com/voterguide, we have consulted public data bases, vetted the candidates’ criminal, financial and disciplinary histories, and conducted numerous interviews with sitting judges, practicing attorneys and, in many cases, the candidates themselves.

CIRCUIT COURT

Michigan’s 57 circuit courts are the most powerful trial courts in the state, handling any civil dispute involving more than $25,000 and all felony cases (that is, any criminal matter in which the defendant faces prison time). The court’s family division handles divorces, paternity disputes, adoptions, personal protection actions and most matters involving juveniles.

Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties each have separate circuit courts whose judges are elected in county-wide elections for six-year terms. Judges are currently paid of $139,919 a year, although their salary is  to increase by 1% on Oct. 1.


Wayne County Circuit Court
None of the 16 incumbent circuit judges eligible for re-election in 2016 face opposition; barring death or resignation, all will serve until the end of 2022. But the impending retirements of four age-limited incumbents has set off a scramble among 21 candidates of diverse experience and abilities. The eight who get the most votes in Tuesday’s primary will appear on the nonpartisan ballot in the general election runoff on Nov. 8.

The crowded primary field is likely to work in favor of several undistinguished candidates who enjoy name recognition (or, in some cases, merely share a surname with a better-known elected officials).

Two glaring examples are former Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano (the only one of the 19 candidates the Detroit Metropolitan Bar Association has rated unqualified for judicial office) and Karyn Macdonald (whose mother is a capable Wayne County Circuit Court judge, but whose own limited experience and checkered history with the state Attorney Grievance Commission makes her a poor choice).

The remaining 17 candidates include three sitting district judges, two veteran assistant attorneys general and five current of former prosecutors in the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.

Procedural rules that funnel newly elected judges into vacancies left over after incumbents have claimed their preferred assignments make it likely that at least three of the four judges elected in November will be assigned to the circuit court’s criminal division, the busiest in the state.

The four candidates best qualified to assume that responsibility are (in alphabetical order) MATTHEW EVANS, KENNETH J. KING, BRIAN L. MORROW and SUZETTE SAMUELS.

Evans, 58, is a veteran trial lawyer who wins high praise for his professionalism from prosecutors and judges as well as his criminal defense bar peers. Although he spent 15 years in business before returning to Michigan State University for his legal degree, he has practiced for more than 20 years and is a past president of the Recorders Court Bar Association. Honored by his peers for his contributions to indigent defense, he serves the court as a trainer for lawyers seeking court appointment as defense counsel in indigent cases. A native of Riverview, he now resides in Livonia.

King, 46, is a former assistant Wayne County prosecuting attorney who was appointed to a 36th District Court seat by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2006, and re-elected to his second six-year term in 2014.

Appointed chief judge of the state’s busiest court by the state Supreme Court in 2012, he was defrocked a year later after locking horns with the court’s Republican majority over what he considered draconian austerity matters. But prosecutors and defense lawyers alike call King a hardworking jurist who comes to work prepared and treats lawyers and litigants fairly and respectfully. He lives in Detroit.

Morrow, 59, has practiced law for 26 years. He has spent the last 12 as deputy chief of the juvenile division of the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, whose 20 lawyers handle minors charged with offenses ranging from school truancy to first-degree murder.  A resident of Northville, he has won multiple awards for pioneering an innovative Teen Court in which first-time offenders are given the opportunity to avoid criminal records by submitting to sentences and/or service requirements designed by their peers. He evinces a penchant for proactive problem-solving that is much needed in the busy Wayne County circuit.

Samuels, 55, has been an assistant Wayne County prosecuting attorney for 15 years. She spent six as chief of the office’s sexual assault team, which she helped found, most recently as chief of the office’s sexual assault unit. Born and raised in southwest Detroit, she was described by both judges and peers as hardworking and temperamentally suited for the stressful life of a criminal trial judge. Like Morrow, she has demonstrated a keen interest in alternative sentencing schemes that prove effective in reducing recidivism while reducing the burden on the state’s underfunded prison system. She lives in Livonia.

Macomb County Circuit Court

There are three open circuit court seats at stake in Macomb County. Former Macomb County Prosecutor Carl Marlinga is running unopposed for one of them, and is thus assured election to his first term in November.

Five candidates are competing in the Aug. 2 primary for the other two seats; all but the candidate who finishes in last place will appear on the general election ballot Nov. 8.

The best qualified in this field are Assistant Macomb County Prosecuting Attorney MICHAEL SERVITTO and RACHEL RANCILIO, a partner in the Mt. Clemens-based law firm of Fischer, Garon, Hayumpo and Rancilio.

Servitto, 38, is a member of a well-known judicial family — his father, Edward, is a sitting Macomb County Circuit judge, and his stepmother is Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Deborah Servitto. But the younger Servitto has risen steadily in the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office, where he currently serves as chief of the district court division and oversees the cold-case unit. He resides in Mt. Clemens.

Rancilio, 40, is a Shelby Township resident who has been a lawyer for 14 years, splitting her practice roughly evenly between criminal defense and family law.

Although they are not running as a team, Servitto and Rancilio are well-matched to the needs of the circuit court, which anticipates one vacancy in the criminal/civil division and another in the family division that handles divorces and juvenile matters. Judges in whose courtrooms the two appear regularly praise both candidates for their preparation and demeanor.

Rounding out the field are Beth deBaptiste-Follis, 45, a real estate law specialist from Shelby Township; Terri Lynn Dennings, 41, a Warren resident who has specialized in labor law and currently works for Wayne County; and Armand Velardo, 58, a CPA-turned-lawyer from Shelby Township who is making his second bid for judicial elective office.


DISTRICT COURT

Often called the people’s court, Michigan’s approximately 100 district courts handle most traffic violations, all civil disputes involving up to $25,000, landlord-tenant matters and misdemeanors. Judges also handle some criminal cases (generally, cases where the accused, if found guilty, cannot be sentenced to more than one year in jail). In addition, small-claims cases are heard by a division of the district court. In Michigan, a few municipalities have chosen to retain a municipal court rather than create a district court.

District court judges are elected in nonpartisan municipal elections for six-year terms and paid $138,272 a year, although they are expected to get a 1% raise on Oct. 1.

36th District Court (Detroit)

Eight incumbent Detroit District Court judges will face just one challenger in a nine-way contest in November. Another incumbent appointed by Gov. Snyder faces a single opponent in a separate general election contest to complete the four years remaining in the terms of former District Judge Brenda Sanders, who resigned last year after the state Judicial Tenure Commission took disciplinary action against her.

Six candidates are competing in the primary for two open seats on the Detroit District Court, one of the busiest criminal venues in the U.S. The top four vote-getters will face off in the Nov. 8 runoff election.

The most qualified by far are KENYETTA STANFORD JONES and MILLICENT SHERMAN.

Jones, 39, has been an assistant Wayne County prosecutor for 12 years, trying cases in nearly every unit, including the homicide division. Her superiors, her defense bar adversaries and prominent Wayne County Circuit Court judges agree she has the potential for a long and distinguished judicial career. She and her family live in northwest Detroit.

Sherman, 48, has practiced law for 19 years, including a decade as a court-appointed magistrate hearing traffic matters and setting bonds in the court she seeks to join. A graduate of the University of Michigan Law School, she is a board member and officer of the Michigan Association of District Court Magistrates and a faculty member with the Michigan Judicial Institute’s new magistrates training program.

46th District Court (Southfield, Beverly Hills, Franklin and Lathrup Village)

Five newcomers have challenged Southfield District Judge Cynthia Arvant, who was appointed in 2015 to the seat left vacant by the resignation of Judge William J. Richards. The top two finishers will face each other in the general election Nov. 8.

Kameshia Gant, 42, and Devlin Scarber, 42 are both experienced litigators in private practice. Eman H. Jajonie-Daman, 51, who specializes in immigration law, also serves as a magistrate in the Southfield District Court. All three are thoughtful and energetic, and we hope they will seek elective office again in the near future.

But none of the challengers can match the experience and accomplishment of incumbent CYNTHIA ARVANT, who has spent much of her 21-year career preparing for the job she was appointed to more than a year ago.

Arvant, 45, is no newcomer to the Southfield District Court. She has also served as the court’s research attorney, a court magistrate, and most recently as the 46th District Court administrator, a position in which she was responsible for budgeting and managing the support staff for three judges. She previously served as an assistant state attorney general.

On and off the bench, Arvant has demonstrated an acute sensitivity to the challenges faced by immigrants, indigent defendants and tenants, and mentally ill persons caught up in the criminal justice system. We’re confident  Arvant has earned the trust of voters in her court’s jurisdiction.

51st District (Waterford)
Judge Jodi Debbrecht Switalski resigned her seat abruptly early this year, precipitating a three-way primary contest for the right to finish the two years remaining in her six-year term. The top two vote-getters will compete in a general election runoff Nov.8.

Todd Fox, 49, is a former Waterford trustee who has practiced law for 23 years, mostly as a solo practitioner concentrating in civil litigation.

But MARY MARA, whose 25-year career has been divided roughly evenly between the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office and the Oakland County Corporation Counsel’s office, would bring more relevant experience to the Waterford District Court.

As an assistant prosecutor from 1991 to 2002, Mara, 51, tried more than 100 cases, concentrating on the prosecution of sexual assault crimes. She also spent two years as an appellate lawyer in the Prosecutor’s Office. She moved to the Corporation Counsel’s office in 2002, and has spent the last decade evaluating and litigating lawsuits filed against the county and supervising other litigators. The state and the county have called on her to train police officers, judges and court administrators in everything from search-and-seizure law to pandemic preparation.

A third candidate, Andrea Dean, had an abbreviated, scandal-marred career as an assistant county prosecutor. This is her second campaign for the Waterford District Court, and she remains unqualified for judicial office.