FIRST BLACK PROSECUTOR, WAYNE COUNTY (DETROIT)
- Originally published in Ebony, August 2004
Copyright 2004 Johnson Publishing Company, Inc.
KYM WORTHY is the first African-American and the first woman to become
the Wayne County (Detroit) prosecutor -- Michigan's largest county.
Appointed by the 63-member bench of the Wayne County Circuit Court,
Worthy takes the top office after nine years as a judge in the Detroit
Recorder's Court. Before becoming a judge, Worthy served for 12 years
as an assistant prosecutor and became the first African-American
special assignment prosecutor in Wayne County, where she tried over 800
cases, including capital cases. In her new role, she is pressing a
national gun violence initiative, Change in Culture, to address the
murder rate in Detroit. She also wants to establish an Elder Abuse
Unit. Worthy earned a bachelor's degree in economics and political
science from the University of Michigan and a law degree from the
University of Notre Dame. She is the daughter of retired Army Colonel
Clifford Worthy Jr., the first African-American in Michigan to graduate
from West Point. She lives in Detroit with her daughter, Anastasia.
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