Karen McDonald (politician)

Karen Diane McDonald (born July 11, 1970) is an American lawyer and politician currently serving as the prosecuting attorney of Oakland County, Michigan, and formerly as a judge on Michigan's 6th Circuit Court in Oakland County. She is a member of the Democratic Party.

Early life, education, and career
Karen McDonald was born on July 11, 1970, in Lansing, Michigan, alongside her fraternal twin sister Kristen McDonald Rivet, to parents Bob and Kathy McDonald. Shortly after she was born, McDonald’s parents moved from the Lansing area to Portland, Michigan, where she was raised. McDonald graduated from Portland High School and earned her B.A. in English and political science from Alma College in 1992. She became a public school English teacher and was a member of her local Michigan Education Association union.

After graduating cum laude from Wayne State University Law School in 1998, McDonald joined the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office as an assistant prosecuting attorney, where she prosecuted child sexual assault cases as well as general misdemeanors and felonies and maintained a 100 percent conviction rate. In 2004, McDonald joined the Oakland County-based firm Jaffe, Raitt, Heuer & Weiss P.C., where she specialized in civil and family law, and was named partner and shareholder in 2010.

In her career, McDonald has carved out significant legal expertise in matters relating to children. Notably, she has been a member of the Foster Care Review Board Program Advisory Committee, Department of Health & Human Services Human Trafficking Protocol Revision Committee, Child Death Review Committee, Oakland County Youth Suicide Prevention Task Force, National Counsel of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, the Michigan Judges Association, the Women’s Lawyer Association of Michigan, and the Oakland County Bar Association. In 2018, she was the recipient of the Oakland County Domestic Violence Prevention Award and the Joan E. Young Champion of Children Award.

2012 election and Circuit Court judge
In 2012, McDonald ran for an open seat on the Oakland County Circuit Court, winning the non-partisan judicial election with nearly 60% of the vote. Taking office in January 2013, McDonald presided for over six years as a family court judge, taking a docket focused on divorce and custody, child abuse and neglect, as well as juvenile delinquency cases. In 2015, McDonald presided over the first same-sex adoption in the history of the State of Michigan, stating that the case was a great honor. McDonald was unopposed in her 2018 re-election bid, and on November 6, 2018, she was elected for a second six-year term on the 6th Circuit Court, ranking as the top vote-earner of incumbent circuit court judges.

2020 election and Oakland County Prosecutor
In April 2019, McDonald stepped down from her judgeship, announcing her intention to run for the Democratic nomination for Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney in the 2020 election. McDonald campaigned on a progressive, reformist platform focused on limiting incarceration for non-violent crimes, and ensuring prosecutorial decisions are informed by racial justice considerations. McDonald’s campaign was endorsed by 87 individuals and organizations, including the Detroit Free Press, Detroit News, Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist, Attorney General Dana Nessel, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, and numerous local Democratic Party elected officials, party leaders, organizations and associations. On August 4, 2020, McDonald defeated incumbent prosecutor Jessica Cooper, claiming the Democratic nomination for Oakland County Prosecuting Attorney and advancing to the general election. On November 3, 2020, McDonald was elected Oakland County Prosecutor, and was the top vote-getter among all county-wide candidates.

First Term as Oakland County Prosecutor
Karen McDonald took office on January 1, 2021. On her first day in office, Karen announced several key priorities for her administration, including a robust focus on juvenile justice, restoring prosecutorial fairness/fair and just prosecution, and reducing mass incarceration/dedicating resources to targeting crime drivers.

Within her first 100 days in office, Prosecutor McDonald shared the status of several important initiatives she undertook upon taking office. Within this time, her administration issued resentencing memos for nearly two dozen juvenile lifers, rolled out prosecutorial discretion to Assistant Prosecutors, established the Trafficking Unit and the Hate Crimes Unit, re-engaged the Prosecutor’s Office as an active participant in over a dozen diversion programs and treatment courts, formed a team dedicated to establishing a Conviction Integrity Unit, and re-established critical relationships with community and law enforcement partners.

Conviction Integrity Unit (CIU)
Immediately after taking office, Prosecutor McDonald formed an internal team dedicated to establishing Oakland County’s first-ever Conviction Integrity Unit. After receiving the necessary funding from the Board of Commissioners, the CIU was officially launched in February 2022. The CIU is tasked with reviewing claims of wrongful convictions and making recommendations to remedy them where appropriate.

Trafficking Unit
Michigan consistently ranks in the top states for human trafficking. To combat this, Prosecutor McDonald transformed the Narcotics Unit into a Trafficking Unit, shifting the focus from the use and possession of drugs to the trafficking of drugs and people. The Trafficking Unit has had success in prosecuting and convicting cases. Notably, in September 2023, Richard Coleman was found guilty by an Oakland County jury on all eleven charges brought against him by the Prosecutor’s Office, including Human Trafficking. The investigation revealed that over 20 women were identified as having been abused and trafficked by Coleman.

Prosecutor of Oxford High School Shooting
On November 30, 2021, a school shooter at Oxford High School took the lives of Madisyn Baldwin, Justin Shilling, Tate Myre, and Hana St. Juliana, injured several others, and terrorized an entire community. Prosecutor McDonald led the prosecution against the shooter, along with his parents who were each charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter for the gross negligence that led to the horrific shooting. The shooter pled guilty to all 24 counts against him as charged on October 4, 2022 After a Miller hearing in fall 2023, the shooter was sentenced to Life Without Parole on December 8, 2023, by Judge Kwamé Rowe

Jennifer Crumbley was convicted on February 6, 2024 James Crumbley was convicted on March 14, 2024 Both James and Jennifer were sentenced on April 9, 2024, by Judge Cheryl Matthews and each received a term of 10-15 years imprisonment, above the guidelines

Commission to Address Gun Violence
Following the school shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the first school shooting since Oxford, along with increased gun violence throughout the community, Prosecutor McDonald formed the Commission to Address Gun Violence in September 2022. Composed of over 25 stakeholders from various disciplines across the nation, the Commission was tasked with creating and publishing a comprehensive, evidence-based model that can be offered as a protocol to schools, employers, municipalities, and community members to reduce gun violence