Fairness is Priority for New Baltimore Judge

As many as 18,000 cases–from the petty to the reprehensible–push through 42-2 District Court each year, but the presiding judge has just one simple rule for sentencing convicted offenders.

"You should punish them enough so they don't want to do it again," said William Hackel III. "Not to ruin their lives."

That self-imposed guideline for the former Warren assistant city attorney, who also practiced law in Nashville and California, has served him well since taking the bench in 2009. (Hackel succeeded former Judge Paul Cassidy who retired earlier that year after the FBI raided the courthouse.)

Court Cases Vary

During that time, certain cases stemming from New Baltimore, New Haven and Chesterfield and Lenox townships have made an impression.

"I had a loose cow case," Hackel says with a chuckle of an incident in rural Lenox Township in which livestock escaped from the owner's property.

As evident in that case, the judge is pragmatic about handing down sentences, weighing how someone's life will be affected by his punishment. Factoring that the owner already lost a day of work and had to slaughter his animal, he concluded, "Why penalize him?"

He also keeps busy with scores of property evictions, especially home foreclosures. In one day, he hears an average of eight eviction cases.

"No one likes to throw people out of their house," he said. "If you find a judge that likes to throw people out of their house, that would scare me."

Others include credit card thefts, drug arrests and domestic assaults.

When it comes to staying out of trouble, he said, "I think there are two simple rules: Keep your hands to yourself and don't bother other people."

While he enjoys officiating weddings at the court, he also has the difficult task of overseeing preliminary exams for serious felony cases.

In fact, one of the most memorable exams he presided over was that of Lenox Township resident Majd Mohammad Al-Shara. The judge bound Al-Shara's case over to a higher court after hearing evidence of the accidental death of Al-Shara's 6-year-old daughter Aliaa. Al-Shara had poured fuel onto a backyard fire pit, igniting flames that spread onto the child. He was eventually sentenced in January to a year probation for fourth-degree child abuse and slated in March for deportation to Jordan.

Hackel said that was a devastating and preventable loss.

"Most people are not evil," he said of defendants.

Off the Bench

When he's not working, Hackel enjoys spending time with his two children, an 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son. He's involved with their activities like Cub Scouts, travel soccer, basketball and dance.

Currently, he's immersed in an encyclopedia-thick Mark Twain biography that sits a short distance away from a student variation of a Vincent van Gogh he bought at a charity auction. On St. Patrick's Day, he wore a festive clover tie and cheered the corned beef and cabbage an employee brought in for the staff.

Hackel is a household name in Macomb County. His brother, Mark Hackel, is the former sheriff and serves as the first-ever county executive. His father, William Hackel, was a longtime county sheriff. But police work never beckoned him.

"I always wanted to be a judge," he said. "I think this is the best way I can help other people...I'm pretty sure I'm doing that."