Kevin G. Simowski, of Plymouth, has
been appointed Chief of the Criminal Justice Bureau, Attorney General Mike Cox
announced today, a position that oversees the new Cold Case Unit and several
other divisions in the department.
“The people of Michigan are indeed fortunate to have Kevin Simowski on
their side,” Cox said in making the announcement. “His experience, expertise
and professionalism will serve the state well and help to protect our
neighborhoods, homes and families from harm.”
Simowski earned his Juris Doctor degree from Wayne State University Law
School in 1982 and he received his B.A., with distinction, from the University
of Michigan in 1979.
In 1997, Simowski was named the first Director of the Wayne County
Prosecutor’s Homicide Unit. Extensive protocols for the evaluation and
prosecution of the most serious cases were developed. Under Mr. Simowski’s
direction, the number of homicide cases either dismissed or adjourned at
preliminary examination dropped significantly, while murder convictions rose
dramatically.
As Director of the Homicide Unit, and prior to that as a special
assignment prosecutor, Simowski prosecuted more than 100 homicide trials.
Among the high profile cases, were the People v Reco Jones, where the
defendant was convicted of five counts of first-degree murder for the vicious
stabbing deaths of four small children and the mother of two of those children
in Detroit; People v Lawrence DeLisle, where a father was convicted of first
degree murder for the drowning deaths of his four children in the Detroit
River; People v Martel Welch, involving the death of a young woman who was
forced off the Belle Isle Bridge following a traffic altercation; and most
recently, he prosecuted four defendants in People v Montez Moore, et al who
were all convicted of first degree murder and eleven other felony counts
arising out of a violent crime spree culminating in the shooting death of
Detroit Police Officer Shawn Bandy and the wounding of three other police
officers.
Simowski recently served as board chair of the Alliance for a Safer
Greater Detroit and as the Wayne County prosecutor’s representative to the
U.S. Attorney’s Violent Crime Reduction Working Group.
“Kevin’s knowledge will be invaluable in overseeing the Cold Case Unit and
in managing the very lean but very busy Criminal Justice Bureau,” Cox said.
“I am confident that hoods, thugs and hucksters will not get a moment’s rest
with Kevin in the bureau.”
