Pubdate: Tue, 03 Jun 2014
Source: Macomb Daily, The (MI)
Copyright: 2014 The Macomb Daily
Contact:  http://www.macombdaily.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2253
Author: Jameson Cook
Page: A1

'SCARY MARY,' RECOVERING ADDICTS FEATURED ON DATELINE

Judge's ' Dealings With Three Drug- Court Participants' Battles to Be 
Highlights on Show

Judge "Scary Mary" Chrzanowski will be fully introduced to the nation 
Sunday when her dealings with drug-court participants will be 
highlighted on NBC- TV's "Dateline."

"Dateline" and NBC anchor Lester Holt followed Macomb County Circuit 
Court Judge Mary Chrzanowski and three people she helped shepherd 
through juvenile and adult drug courts for about a year. The story 
will broadcast at 7 p. m. Sunday.

"It's an accurate depiction of how tough drug addiction is and how 
tough it is to kick drug addiction," said "Dateline" producer Fred 
Rothenberg. "There are 2,700 drug courts across the country. They 
have been one of the more successful weapons in the war on drugs."

Chrzanowski, 52, was chosen due to her charismatic personality, 
ability to communicate and her own battle with being an alcoholic. 
She has been in recovery for more than a decade.

"Mary is great," said Rothenberg, a more than 20year "Dateline" 
veteran. "She is charismatic, caring and always on time. She is 
street smart and has a big heart. She's one of the more interesting 
judges I've come across. Her story and how she interacts with people 
is very interesting."

Holt last year told The Macomb Daily: "She's obviously someone who is 
very passionate about what she does and passionate about the people 
she's serving."

Rothenberg and his colleagues at the magazine-style TV show were 
impressed with Chrzanowski while covering the second "comic book 
murder" trial in 2011 in which Michael George of Macomb Township was 
convicted a second time of first-degree murder in the death of 
Barbara George, 32, in the couple's Clinton Township store in 1990.

In addition to "Scary Mary," The Macomb Daily learned last year that 
Chrzanowski is also known as "the show stopper" in the county jail 
because she cuts through defendant's lies.

Chrzanowski often provides entertaining, off-the-cuff remarks from 
the bench. She on occasion has turned a hearing in her Mount Clemens 
courtroom into a therapy-like session, ordering defendants to talk to 
their parents or other loved ones in open court.

Sunday's episode will feature a female teenage defendant in the 
circuit court juvenile and two adult males in the Warren drug court. 
Two of the participants were addicted to heroin, Rothenberg said.

Heroin addiction has afflicted many Macomb County residents in recent 
years. The county led the state in fatal heroin overdoses in the 
three-year period 2010- 12.

Drug court is designed as a treatment, recovery-based alternative to 
incarceration for non violence offenders with addictions.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom