Lifelong learner - Judge keeps his mind open to a new set of challenges

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By Tom Kirvan
Legal News

With Father’s Day approaching, David Alan Groner longs for the opportunity to have one last chat with his dad, the late Rabbi Irwin Groner, a powerful voice in the spiritual world for more than a half-century before his passing in December 2012.

“Upon his death, he was saluted as ‘A Rabbi for the Ages,’” said Groner, a judge on the Wayne County Circuit Court bench for the past 18 years. “He instilled in me a lifelong love for learning, and the need for charity and compassion in our dealings with others. Those messages have stuck with me throughout my legal career.”

Perhaps never more so than when in 2010 Judge Groner was about to sentence former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for violating terms of his probation after pleading guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice stemming from the text messaging scandal that had engulfed his administration.

“It obviously was a high-profile case that was garnering a lot of media attention from the newspapers and TV stations,” said Groner. “So, when I finished my sentencing statement for the next day, I wanted to run it by my father to get his thoughts, to see if I was striking the right tone, to see about the wording. He was a scholar and a deep thinker, and I placed great value on his opinion.”

Rabbi Groner’s verdict, so to speak, was swift and sure, according to his son.

“He said, ‘I wouldn’t change a word,’ which to me was the highest praise I could ever receive,” Judge Groner related. “I went into court the next day without any predisposition about sentencing. I wanted to listen to everybody talk before making a decision. I certainly had a range that I was considering, but I had not made up my mind before imposing the sentence (18 months) in court that day.”

It would be the one and only time that the judge would seek the advice of his rabbi-father on a legal matter.

“That case was of such consequence that I needed to get it right and I knew that there wasn’t anyone whose opinion I valued more than my father’s,” said Groner, a Southfield Lathrup grad who earned a degree in history from the University of Michigan.

Unless it comes from his wife, former Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Amy Hathaway, who spent nearly two decades on the bench before retiring in 2014 to begin a second legal career as a facilitator.

Hathaway, a graduate of the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law, is the seventh in her family to wear judicial robes. She began her legal career at Honigman as a paralegal. After earning her juris doctor degree, Hathaway landed a job as an associate with Dykema Gossett. It proved to be a stepping stone to a position as assistant corporation counsel for Wayne County’s legal department. There she worked under the guidance of Wayne County Corporation Counsel Saul Green, who later would serve as U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan.

She married Groner in 2001, some five years after meeting him at a golf outing she attended for the Wayne County Probate Bar Association.

In the following years, Hathaway got the opportunity to observe Groner as a criminal defense attorney, where she came away impressed with his legal skill set and courtroom demeanor.

“He stood out because of his smarts and his ability to communicate effectively,” Hathaway said of the then solo practitioner.

Those smarts became even more evident when Groner was appointed to the Wayne County bench in 2003, according to Hathaway.

“He is a quick study and doesn’t shy away from any sort of challenge,” said Hathaway of her husband for the past 20 years. “When he was in the Criminal Division, he could be tough when needed, but he also displayed a sense of humanity, knowing where to put prisoners for the long term good.”

Groner shares a judicial bond with Wayne County Circuit Court Judge David Allen, who also was appointed to the bench by then Governor Jennifer Granholm. Both began their judicial careers in the Criminal Division of the court and cemented their friendship while each ran for election in 2004.

“We really got to know each other during that 2004 campaign, when we and Judge (Edward) Ewell were running to retain our seats on the court,” Allen said of Groner. “We were known as the ‘Three Amigos’ and we were all Granholm appointees.”

Groner, who spent the first 14 years of his judicial career hearing Criminal Division cases, is widely respected for his common-sense approach to the job, Allen indicated.

“He is a very pragmatic person who doesn’t get caught in the weeds,” Allen said of his longtime colleague. “He is personable and fair, and is known as a problem-solver, a skill that will come in very handy at the Business Court.”

In March, Groner accepted an appointment from the Michigan Supreme Court to serve on the Wayne County Business Court, a coveted four-year assignment. Among those who applauded the appointment was Clark Hill attorney Stuart Schwartz, a business litigator in the firm’s Detroit office.

“I have appeared before Judge Groner a number of times, including on some complex matters,” said Schwartz, a Duke University alum who obtained his law degree from Wayne State University Law School. “He impressed me with a very special ability to simplify complicated business issues and effectively communicate with sophisticated parties.

“He also is willing to roll up his sleeves and go the extra mile by giving complex cases the tailored attention they sometimes need,” Schwartz added.

“Practitioners and litigants in the Wayne County Business Court will no doubt benefit from Judge Groner’s unique skill set, thoughtfulness, and dedication.”

Such praise has been well earned by Groner, who was an evening law student at University of Detroit Mercy School of Law while he worked full time as a court clerk for Oakland County Circuit Court Judge James Thorburn.

“I learned from one of the masters,” Groner said of Thorburn, who passed away in 2005 at the age of 87. “I had the privilege of working for a brilliant judge, who could be rough on lawyers at various times.

“I also had the chance to get to know lawyers such as the great Elbert Hatchett, who was the best cross examiner that I’ve ever seen,” Groner said of the Pontiac attorney who died in April at age 84. “He was one of the reasons that I decided to practice criminal law. He had a mind like a steel trap and had a way with a jury that very few lawyers possessed.”

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Last criminal case ended
in a profound way

David Groner, who has presided as a judge in the Criminal and Civil divisions of the Wayne County Circuit Court, recently was appointed to the Business Court. One of three children, Groner has a brother, Joel, a psychologist in suburban Chicago, and a sister, Debbie, a U-M alumna who died 20 years ago. His mother, Leypsa, lives in Southfield, where her late husband was the longtime rabbi at Shaarey Zedek, one of the largest synagogues in Metro Detroit.

By Tom Kirvan
Legal News

While spending the first 14 years of his judicial career in the Criminal Division of the Wayne County Circuit Court, Judge David Groner had presided over his share of cases filled with tragedy and heartbreak.

So, it seemed only fitting that the last case he heard in 2017 as a judge in the Criminal Division contained more of the same.

The case involved two suburban males in their early 20s who were out for a joy ride one evening near Detroit.

“They were best friends,” Groner said of the pair.

But on that seemingly carefree evening, two best friends suddenly were no longer inseparable.

“The driver decided to open the car up and lost control of the vehicle, hitting a tree at a high rate of speed, killing his best friend in the passenger seat,” Groner indicated.

The driver was charged with vehicular manslaughter and was facing the possibility of a 15-year prison sentence if convicted. Instead, an agreement was reached with the prosecutor’s office in which the defendant agreed to a prison sentence of 1 to 2 years for a pleading to lesser charge of negligent homicide, according to Groner.

“The respective families didn’t know each other at the time of the accident,” Groner explained. “But when the plea agreement was reached, the victim’s family was absolutely livid that the defendant was going to face relatively little prison time for causing an accident in which their son was killed.”
At the sentencing, Groner had a somber and simple message for all parties gathered in his courtroom.

“I said something to the effect that, ‘There will be no winners today in my courtroom,’” Groner related, noting that “one family lost a son and the other family was about to lose a son” to a prison sentence.

“I told them both that this is one of the hardest days of my life, knowing that this horrible tragedy cost the life of one young man and that his best friend was the cause of it and would have to pay some sort of price,” Groner said.

After imposing a 1-year prison sentence on the defendant, Groner adjourned the proceedings and returned to his chambers.

“I went back there and literally felt terrible about what had just transpired and how two families were so dramatically changed by that accident,” Groner said. “This wasn’t the memory I wanted to have of my last case as a judge in the Criminal Division.”

Within minutes, Groner answered a knock on his door from a member of his court staff, who indicated that the victim’s family was asking the judge to reconsider the terms of the sentence.

“So, I returned to the courtroom and went back on the record,” Groner explained. “It became clear that the victim’s family wanted me to reduce the sentence. So I asked them whether they wanted the 1 year to be in jail instead of prison. No, they said. Then I asked them did they want ‘9 months; 6 months; 3 months?’”

Instead, the victim’s family wanted Groner to sentence the defendant – the man chiefly responsible for the death of their beloved son – to probation.

“They said, ‘We heard your message about there being no winners in this case and we don’t want them to lose a son like we lost ours,’” Groner related, noting the prosecutors involved in the case deferred to him despite the sentencing agreement.

“You talk about a moment,” Groner said. “I’ve never experienced anything quite like that.”

But that wasn’t the end of the day of reckoning.

“I told the victim’s parents that, ‘I’ve never seen anyone as strong as you two,’” Groner said, adding that “divine intervention” was at work in his courtroom that day.

Indeed it was, as the victim’s parents were about to further demonstrate.

“They then asked me, ‘Can we hug the defendant? Can we hug you?’

“Their willingness to forgive, their desire to do good made it all worthwhile,” Groner said of his final case. “How do you top that?”

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