For 25 years, Jerry Dorsey IV has been dedicated to getting justice for children and families.
A 1986 alumnus of Wayne State University Law School, Dorsey is chief of trials for the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. He is passionate about practicing the law, and his commitment to justice began early in his childhood.
Dorsey grew up in the Brewster-Douglass Housing Projects in Detroit.
“My mom was very poor, but she’d always share what she had with others,” he said. “My mom and my family have always helped people. I have two sisters who are nurses and one sister in social services.”
For Dorsey, poverty acted as a catalyst that inspired his need to give back. His mother lived a life of selfless giving, he said, and he knew he wanted to continue that legacy, but he wasn’t sure where to start.
Dorsey began his journey at Wayne State University, where he earned his undergraduate degree in history and psychology.
Initially, he planned to pursue a career in the mental health field. He worked for 10 years in a psychiatric inpatient facility, but grew frustrated. He wanted to make a significant difference in the lives of his patients, but he often was unable to make the kind of impact he craved. Dorsey had a desire to heal, but he recognized he was destined for another path.
His commitment to community needs and his desire for justice inspired him to pursue a career as an attorney.
“So, I came to the law and found a way to channel that need to help,” Dorsey said.
He was appointed as an assistant county prosecutor in 1989, and, in 1990, joined the office’s Child and Family Abuse Bureau.
He is passionate about his work, but decades of delving deeply into such crimes can at times take an emotional toll.
“It’s hard,” Dorsey said. “I did not realize how traumatizing it was until I went to a conference and we talked about vicarious trauma. I never let my children spend the night at relatives’ houses. I didn’t trust anybody. That was me. Now I leave it at the office. It took me a long time to get there.”
However, some cases are hard to leave at the office.
Dorsey remembers a few that particularly got to him.
One such case occurred in 2009, when a couple murdered their 2-year-old son and cremated his remains on a barbecue grill. His bones showed evidence of malnutrition and physical abuse, suggesting that he endured a life as gruesome as his death. The boy’s remains were hidden in their home for months, while his parents collected benefits for the child they had murdered. The crime came to light when the mother brought another young son to a hospital with scald burns over 40 percent of his body. His father pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse for the burns the child sustained, and both parents were convicted for the murder.
Another case Dorsey tried in court that sticks in his mind is the 2008 killing of a 2-year-old girl dropped over a balcony by her foster mother. The woman was convicted of second-degree murder.
“It was one of the first cases in Michigan where we charged a foster parent with murder,” said Dorsey, who is known for his calm and effective courtroom demeanor. “When I’m in court, I do my very best for the children and women who are victims of violence. I cannot let my emotions take over.”
Dorsey’s commitment to justice extends beyond the courtroom. He has made it his mission to serve as advocate for abused children.
He has lectured on child abuse investigation and domestic violence extensively and serves as chairman of the Wayne County Council Against Family Violence. He’s also president of the advisory board of Kids-TALK Children’s Advocacy Center, a community-based program that serves children through age 17, providing comprehensive treatment to suspected child victims of sexual abuse, physical abuse, neglect or other forms of psychological trauma.
Dorsey is a member of the Board of Directors of the Guidance Center, the mental health agency that sponsors Kids-TALK; Wayne County Neighborhoods of Hope steering committee; and Wayne County Human Services Collaborative. He serves, by appointment of the governor, on the state Task Force on the Prevention of Sexual Abuse of Children. Among the many honors he’s garnered over the years is the Spirit of Detroit Award.
As a student at Wayne Law, he especially enjoyed working for the Free Legal Aid Clinic and participating in Moot Court.
He didn’t know then that he wanted to represent children.
“When I first contemplated practicing law, I wanted to be a defense attorney,” Dorsey said. “I was going to represent the brothers and sisters who were charged with crimes.”
He began working for the Juvenile Defenders Office, and – after trying a case – was approached by someone from the county prosecutor’s office, who urged him to “switch sides.”
“They told me, ‘You can do the same thing – represent kids,’” Dorsey said. “They encouraged me. They needed diversity.”
He’s been standing up for children and families as a prosecutor ever since, and his passion for the work hasn’t abated one bit over the years.
“I have been blessed to practice criminal law,” he said.
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