A judge on the Wayne County Circuit bench for the past 18 years, in 2010 Judge David Groner sentenced former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for violating terms of his probation after pleading guilty to two counts of obstruction of justice.
Photo courtesy of Judge David Groner
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 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, who earned a degree in history from the University of Michigan.
Unless it comes from his wife, former Wayne County Circuit 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 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.
“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 while he worked full time as a court clerk for Oakland County Circuit 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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