Michael J Reynolds

Michael Reynolds, the tenacious and loquacious courtroom bulldog who prosecuted some of Wayne County’s highest-profile homicides while earning praise from judges and adversaries, died Tuesday at his home in Grosse Pointe Woods.

“He loved the work as prosecutor,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who was a law school intern under Reynolds. “He was a big voice for the voiceless and tireless on behalf of justice.”

Reynolds, 67, was in failing health with heart disease and diabetes, said his wife, Kathleen Schacht Reynolds. “He just slipped away,” she said.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said that as a young attorney she spent hours in the law library with Reynolds as they prepared their cases. He was remarkably meticulous and compassionate, Worthy said.

“I know it sounds trite, but he truly believed in doing the right thing,” she said. “Victims often get lost in the system, but he knew victims’ lives had value. He was very passionate. And he prepared and prepared and prepared. Nobody out-prepared Mike Reynolds.”

Advertisement

Reynolds served two stints as an assistant prosecutor beginning in 1980, with a 1994-2011 hiatus in civil practice with Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker, PLLC, specializing in claims of dairy herds stricken by power line stray voltage. He joked he swapped killers for electric cows.

But it was in grim homicide cases at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit where he earned his reputation. Reynolds' personal docket was crammed with high-profile dismemberments, bodies stuffed in cement barrels, vengeful dopesters and love triangles resolved with car bombs.

Advertisement

One case in the intense media glare was the 1994 trial of Benjamin Atkins, a serial killer who raped and strangled 11 sex workers in eight months.

Nessel recalled assisting Reynolds by having the lone survivor demonstrate Atkins’ lethal chokehold for the jurors: “I started passing out and the last thing I saw was Mike smiling. Afterward, I told him I could have died. He said ‘Yeah, but we’re gonna totally win this case.’ ”

More: Veteran Wayne County prosecutor dies: 'She was a hell of a lawyer'

More: Federal Judge Arthur Tarnow dies at 79: 'The most truly human person in the courthouse'

Another former colleague, Rosemary Gordon Panuco, now a special magistrate in Tucson, Arizona, said Reynolds not only knew the law but how to rivet a jury. In a beheading case, Reynold carried in a square box marked evidence, placing it under the table in sight of the jury. Inside was a basketball that produced an ominous thump when he’d occasionally nudge the sealed box.

“He never introduced it as evidence,” Panuco said, “but the jurors couldn’t take their eyes off it.”

She and other lawyers said Reynolds fought hard but always squarely.

Legendary defense attorney Cornelius Pitts said he rarely praises prosecutors but Reynolds was different: “You knew he wasn’t going to be hiding anything and there would be no chicanery. He was a fair and decent man — nothing underhanded, everything aboveboard."

Defense lawyer Steve Fishman agreed: “You could always rely on his word.”

Reynolds was an early advocate for victim and survivor rights, not flinching when a bullying judge berated him, demanding “Where are you from, another planet? Mars, maybe?’’ for wanting a victim’s family to speak at a sentencing.

Advertisement

Oakland County Medical Examiner L.J. Dragovic suffered a heart attack in the witness chair while Reynolds cross-examined him in a homicide case. While such an incident could give a lawyer instant courtroom cred — Dragovic blamed overwork and not the grilling — Reynolds didn’t gloat, instead taking pleasure that the doctor kept him on his holiday party guest lists.

Judge Timothy Kenny, Chief of the Wayne County Circuit Court, said Reynolds was “as passionate a trial prosecutor as there ever was. He put everything he had in every case he tried.”

A former office mate, Assistant Prosecutor Haddy Abouzeid, said he was a patient, enthusiastic mentor with a “brilliant mind, gargantuan heart,” matched by oddball humor and penchant for extended chatter.

Fellow homicide prosecutors once devised a “Dress Like Mike Day,” all wearing his go-to uniform of rumpled blue blazer, white shirt, red tie and khakis.

“At first he didn’t notice, then it dawned on him,” Abouzeid said.

For once, Abouzeid said while laughing, the voluble Reynolds was at a loss for words.

Reynolds is survived by his wife, daughters Shannon Reynolds and Brigid Paul, and grandson Thomas Paul.

A memorial service will be held 9:30 a.m., March 26 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, St. Clair Shores.

Donations can be made to the Wayne State University Law School.