- Kym Worthy
Kym L. Worthy (1957- ) is the current prosecutor of
Wayne County, Michigan . She is the first African-American to serve as a county prosecutor in Michigan. She has received a large amount of notice since filing charges againstDetroit MayorKwame Kilpatrick at the beginning ofMarch, 2008 , however this is only one of many cases her office has been involved in.Worthy received her bachelors degree from the
University of Michigan and her law degree from theUniversity of Notre Dame .Worthy started as an assistant prosecutor in Wayne County in 1984. She served in this position for ten years, trying over 800 cases. The most notable was the trial of
Walter Budzyn andLarry Nevers in the beating death ofMalice Green . Among the cases Worthy had go to trial her conviction rate was over 90%. [ [http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-14680137.html Detroit's dramatic prosecutor. (Kym Worthy, lawyer in Malice Green police brutality case) - Ebony | Encyclopedia.com ] ] From 1994- January 2004 Worthy was a judge on the Wayne County Circuit Court.Worthy was apointed Wayne County Prosecutor to replace
Michael Duggan who resigned to become the head of theDetroit Medical Center .The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office is by far the busiest in Michigan. There are 83 counties in Michigan yet Worthy's office handles 52% of all felony cases in Michigan and 64% of all serious felony cases that go to jury trial. [ [http://www.waynecounty.com/prosecutor/ Wayne County, MI - Prosecutor of Wayne County ] ]
Early in her time as county prosecutor Worthy was criticized for giving too many plea deals to people involved in gun crimes. [ [http://www.detnews.com/2004/specialreport/0408/16/c01-243185.htm "Detroit News", August 16th, 2004] ]
Worthy has also been criticized for not charging any police officers with murder during her tenure in office. [ [http://www.michigancitizen.com/default.asp?sourceid=&smenu=1&twindow=&mad=&sdetail=5732&wpage=1&skeyword=&sidate=&ccat=&ccatm=&restate=&restatus=&reoption=&retype=&repmin=&repmax=&rebed=&rebath=&subname=&pform=&sc=1070&hn=michigancitizen&he=.com The Michigan Citizen ] ]
Worthy has also at times had her prosecutions hampered by the indeptness of the Detroit Police Crime Lab. [http://www.daytondailynews.com/n/content/shared-gen/ap/National/Gun_Tests_Suspended.html?cxntlid=inform_sr]
References
* [http://www.detnews.com/2004/specialreport/0408/16/c01-243185.htm "Detroit News", August 16th, 2004]
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