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Homicide Unit

The Homicide Unit evaluates all homicide warrant requests presented by the various police agencies that serve Wayne County. All homicide warrant requests are initially reviewed by one of the prosecutors in the Homicide Unit. Where appropriate, the request may then be forwarded to another unit, such as CFAB, for evaluation and decision.

The cases handled in this unit range from vehicular homicides of all types (hit-and-run, alcohol related, road rage, etc.) through multi-victim, multi-defendant, gangland or drug-related executions. Prosecutors in the Homicide Unit are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to assist police with criminal investigations. They are regularly called upon through the workday, as well as after hours, to provide legal advice and direction, to review search warrants and other documents, and to conduct witness interviews, where necessary, to preserve critical testimony that might otherwise be lost. A significant number of homicide cases involve complex legal and evidentiary issues and require testimony from experts in many scientific fields.

Whenever possible, cases within this unit are prosecuted vertically, that is, the same prosecutor handles the case from the charging decision through preliminary examination, motions and trial. Since homicide is a violent crime and is generally regarded as the most serious crime in the law, these cases require more time, effort and expertise to investigate than many others. Vertical prosecutions of these cases produces better results than frequently reassigning the cases to different attorneys at different stages. The purpose of the Homicide Unit is to effectively prosecute these cases so as to deter further violent crime, and thereby increase public safety within Wayne County