Wayne County Prosecutor Layoffs to Impact Cases

The layoffs at the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office are likely to impact cases as evidenced this week by the dismissal of many in 36th District Court beacuase no prosecutor was available. 

City of Grosse Pointe attorney Charles Kennedy said this week that the layoffs mean he'll be stepping up prosecution of high-level misdemeanors as a result. The layoffs downtown won't mean people in the City of Grosse Pointe will simply get away with committing a crime. 

The Pointes are in a unique situation as it relates to being able to prosecute at the local level. They are the only cities in the state remaining with municipal courts. 

As a result, each city's attorney has prosecutorial power on midemeanor cases.

Kennedy said the public should be aware that those crimes will not go unnoticed or unpunished as he intends to step up prosecution when appropriate. 

According to information released by Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, the layoffs will mean the decline in prosecuting lower level felonies and misdemeanors. Instead their prosecutions going forward will concentrate on the higher level, more violent crimes. 

Kennedy estimated the number of cases he believes will result in his prosecution is about 15 to 20 annually. They will be prosecuted under the city's ordinance, he said. 

He informed council of this as he said he doesn't want the public to think cases will go un-recognized.

While Kennedy was only speaking in regards to the City of Grosse Pointe, the prosecution of misdemeanors is a possibiltiy in all of the Pointes with their municipal courts.