The 94th Bay County District Judge Race

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The 94th Bay County District Judge Race

By Tom Baird & Bob Martin

Guy Greve

Tim Kelly

In Bay County two highly respected attorneys are running for one of the

74th District Judge seats. State law prohibits current judge John Leaming

from running for the District seat again because he will turn 70 before his

term ends. Consequently, during the August primary, four well-known Bay

County attorneys ran for the highly sought judgeship.  The two that emerged

for the general election were local attorney Guy Greve and Bay County

assistant prosecuting attorney, Tim Kelly.  Both of these well-qualified

candidates have been active in Bay County and both received high marks in a

survey of local attorneys by the Bay County Bar Association.

Guy Greve is a lifelong Bay County resident and has been in law practice

for 25 years, also serving as City Attorney for the City of Bay City. A

past president of the Bay County Bar Association, Greve is a member of the

American Cancer Society, Noon Optimist Club, Bay Arts Council, Bay County

Historical Society, Bay County Women's Center, and the United Way.

Tim Kelly is also a lifelong resident of Bay City, working in the

Prosecuting Attorney's office for the past 14 years, and acting as Chief

Assistant Prosecuting attorney for over a decade. Kelly also serves as an

instructor at the Northeastern Police Academy at Delta College and is

Adjunct instructor at SVSU. His current community involvement includes Bay

City Players, Knights of Columbus, Morning Rotary, and being very active at

his church Saint Boniface Parish.

Kelly says that if elected he would like to deal with repeat drunk drivers,

domestic assault cases, and even establish an evening District court one

night a week.

When asked how he would separate himself from District Court employees that

he has worked with for a number of years, Kelly notes "I will take an oath

of office to uphold the law and judge cases on their merits and the

evidence presented. Both sides should understand their roles."

In terms of his feelings on plea bargaining, Kelly explains, "I feel that

plea bargaining is something good for both sides in a case. You don't

always have as strong a case as you want, so you reach some middle ground

with both sides and have the matter handled."

Greve stresses his 25 years of experience handling all  types of law as an

edge over Kelly.  When asked how he would sentence a former well-known

solid citizen, who had committed a serious crime, Greve explains,

"Everybody has to be responsible for his or her actions. I would not set an

example with this person and would not give them a lighter sentence because

of who they were. I would look at all circumstances surrounding the crime.

Meanwhile, former judicial candidate Edward Czuprynski has announced his

support of Guy Greve for District Judge. "62 percent of the voters rejected

Mr. Kelly in the primary by voting for someone else," notes Czuprynski,

"and I join that majority by endorsing Guy Greve."

Czuprynski emphasized that "basic fundamentals of government" are involved

in the upcoming judicial race. "The integrity of our Judicial system is

built upon a separation of power between the prosecutor's office and the

District Court," he noted. "That separation requires an independence

between the two branches of government."

"In this election, Mr. Kelly is the handpicked candidate of current

prosecutor Joe Sheeran, who endorsed him & heavily supports him. Think what

a benefit it would be for our prosecutor if his underling were to be

elected a judge," Czuprynski explained.

Czuprynski cited his recent experience before the court in the murder case

involving Donna Yost as an example of why it is necessary to have a strong

& independent judge on the bench. "Regardless of whether you believe in

Donna Yost's innocence, Judge Learning, under great pressure from the

Prosecutor's office, had the courage to do the right thing. The Prosecutor

did not have a case and Judge Learning freed an innocent woman. Would a

15-year veteran of the Prosecutor's office be able to exhibit the same

independence of political courage? Particularly when he's indebted to the

prosecutor for his judicial position?" Czuprynski asked. "It is simply

wrong to have a judge beholden to the prosecutor," he added.

"Guy Greve is an independent and highly regarded member of the Bay County

legal community," Czuprynski observed. "Moreover, Mr. Greve is very

experienced in both civil and criminal law, unlike Mr. Kelly. All that Tim

Kelly knows is criminal law. He's never practiced civil law, yet that

comprises half of the Court's workload. Without question, Guy Greve is the

best person for the job and he has my unqualified support."

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