Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy talks struggles, accomplishments in 1-on-1 interview
FOX 2 (WJBK) - In an exclusive interview with Kym Worthy, the Wayne County Prosecutor of nearly 20 years delves into the pressure her office faces to resolve cases.
First gaining significant attention after prosecuting former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick in 2008, Worthy has remained in the spotlight over the years.
In 2023, her office began working on high profile cases such as the fatal stabbing of Jewish leader Samanatha Woll and the murder of Dr. Devon Hoover – a neurosurgeon killed in his Boston Edison Historic District home.
When asked about the Woll case, Worthy refused to comment.
"I'm not going to talk about that or Dr. Hoover and some of the other cases that have gained a lot of attention… Very hard work has been done and is being done on these cases, extremely hard work and focus," Worthy told FOX 2. "I just hope when we go into this new year –that with the attention on those two cases– that people would tend to focus on other cases."
On December 13, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced charges against a 28-year-old Detroit man in connection to Woll's murder. However, no arrests have been made in Hoover's case.
"There seems to be a dichotomy – if you're white and you're killed, a lot of attention gets brought to the case," Worthy continued. "I'm happy that attention is brought to our cases, I'm not complaining about that at all, but I'm also hoping that when that young black child gets killed or that black woman gets killed, or that black man gets killed – just as much focus is placed on the value of their life as well."
Worthy stated that her office handles more than 60% of all criminal cases in the entire state.
"If you stack up Wayne County versus the other 82 counties, we do more than them together," she said.
However, the staffing does not match the workload. Worthy has been fighting for more staff for years.
"We have staffing levels that are just far too low. We are the lowest staffed office per prosecutor, per case in the country by far, and that's been that way for a long time. Everybody's always been used to us making due with what we have, and we shouldn’t have to do that when it comes to justice."
In 2023, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office announced an increase in starting salaries and additional benefits to lure more lawyers to handle the case load.
"It matters because I’m sure if something happened to you or one of your loved ones, you would want a prosecutor's office… that’s committed, that has full resources to do your case, that’s able to keep in touch with you at every bend and turn through their victim advocacy, that your case is done the proper way the first time," Worthy said.
Previously a judge, Worthy became the Wayne County prosecutor in 2004. She is the first African American and first woman to hold the position.
"I have been personally criticized for years because ‘it takes too long, you want a perfect case.’ No, we want… to prove (our findings) beyond a reasonable doubt… in a court of law, properly," she said. "So we just always try to stay laser focused and doing the right thing, and don't let the outside noise pressure us into doing what people want us to do – but what we can prove."
Wayne County prosecutor releases list of police accused of dishonesty
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy released the 2022 Giglio list, which she says names police officers who have been dishonest.
Throughout her tenure as prosecutor, the amount of evidence her team has to examine and analyze has increased – now including security camera footage, body cameras, social media and more.
"What took a short period of time, relatively, years ago, takes double triple that amount of time because we have so much more to review," Worthy said. "It's not unusual to have a homicide case where we're looking at hours and hours and hours of tape before we can even get to the meat of what we have to do."
Despite experiencing a shortage in staffing and a large number of cases, the prosecutor's office has been accomplishing a lot with little resources.
In 2009, Worthy's office discovered over 11,300 sexual assault kits left in an abandoned Detroit police storage facility.
"The kits, which were collected between 1984 and 2009, were never submitted for DNA testing," according to the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office.
Over the years, Worthy and her staff worked to ensure that did not happen again.
"We now have, I believe, close to 250 convictions – 250+ rapists that are no longer on the street because of this project and because of the care and attention that we have taken toward our victims and all of the collaborative team that we have," she said.
"We have identified over 800 serial rapists just within one city, in one department, one county, one state. Our kits, when they were tested, have tentacles in 39 other states and across the country," Worthy continued. "So there were only 10 states in the United States of America that weren't touched by the rape kits that were found in Detroit in 2009."
Worthy's office was also the first in the state to charge parents when their children get a hold of unsecured guns.
Whitmer signs safe storage and background check gun bills into law
Safe storage and universal background check bills breezed through the legislature this session. A third bill dealing with extreme risk protection orders hasn't passed the House.