Assistant prosecutor to fill 36th District Court seat

An assistant Wayne County prosecutor was appointed Tuesday to the 36th District Court bench.

Larry Williams of Detroit will be one of 29 judges who decide cases from Detroit. He’s worked for the prosecutor’s office for 12 years and most recently prosecuted domestic violence cases at the court.

Williams fills the vacancy created by the resignation of Judge Miriam B. Martin-Clark. He’ll have to run for re-election in November for a full term. His judicial salary will be $138,272 a year.

The court is one of the busiest in the country overseeing about 500,000 cases a year in criminal and civil dockets.

“Larry is a lifelong Detroit resident who is known throughout the Detroit legal community as a hard-working and fair attorney,” Gov. Rick Snyder said in announcing the appointment Tuesday in a press release.

As a prosecutor, Williams served in the department’s special victims unit as well as its warrants, district courts and juvenile divisions. He has been involved in the tutoring program for K-12 students at the Detroit Public Library and also has worked with Wayne County’s Juvenile Drug Court as a mentor and an attorney.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Michigan and his law degree from Wayne State University in 2003.

Snyder also appointed attorney Karen Valvo of Ann Arbor to the 15th District Court in Ann Arbor.

“Karen Valvo has established an excellent reputation in the Ann Arbor legal community and has acquired a detailed knowledge of the district court’s problem-solving specialty dockets that will serve Ann Arbor residents well,” Snyder said.

Valvo must also seek re-election in November.

Lawyer Michael Pope of Ironwood was also appointed to the 32nd Circuit Court for Gogebic and Ontonagon counties.

bwilliams@detroitnews.com

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