Top cops, prosecutor honored in Chester County.
WESTCHESTER>> Thewoman named as Chester County Prosecutor of the Year was praised as a “tireless advocate” and mentor to her colleagues during the District Attorney’s annual awards ceremonies lastweek, but she quickly deflected any kudos cast her way to pay tribute tothose shehasworkedwith over the past two decades.
First Assistant District Attorney Michael Noone said Deputy District Attorney Michelle Frei – while introducing her to a packed courtroom Friday of prosecutors, police, county and state officials and members of the DA’s staff – had worked successfully as the office’s go-to person on cases involving domestic violence.
“Michelle gives voice to thosewho suffer at the hands of ones that they love,” Noone said. “She is a strong advocate for those people. And Michelle always remembers the names of those victimswhile she does herwork tirelessly.” Noone noted three significant cases that Frei
had prosecuted in recent years, all involving issues surrounding deaths at the hands of current or former domestic partners.
There was the stabbing death of Kimberly Hvizda, the mother of four who died at the hands of her estranged husband. There was the shotgun slaying of Jamica Woods, the East Fallowfield woman who had endured years of domestic abuse from the father of her child, only to die when she had decided to break free of the relationship; and NicholasMruczek, the upstate New York man killed in North Coventry by the jealous ex-boyfriend of a woman he had just begun dating.
Frei won convictions in each of those cases, with sentences ranging from a minimumof 45 years to themaximumof life in prison, mostly because of the strength of the cases she and police were able to put together. She gave high honors to the law enforcement professionals and DA staff assistants who helpedherwinthose convictions.
But Frei, who became emotional during a brief part of her speech, also spoke
movingly of the plight of the secondary victims of those crimes — the young boy who asked where he would sleep that night with his mother dead and his father in prison, and the teenage girl who wondered whether she should attend the senior prom as her mother had hoped she would or stay home and grieve.
Andmost pertinently, Frei spoke of a young boy she did not identify by name, who had died “at the hands of the peoplewho should have been caring for him.” She was likely referring to the case of Scott “Scotty” McMillan, the 3-year-old western Chester County boy who was beaten and tortured to death by his mother and her live-in boyfriend, and for which she is part of the DA’s prosecution team.
The “strength and courage” of the victims of domestic violence “to comeforward and face their attackers inspires me every day,” Frei said. “The reality is that there is evil out there, and that evil needs to be fought.”
Frei, a county prosecutor for 16 years, received her undergraduate degree from Gettysburg College and her
law degree from Villanova University School of Law. She was promoted to deputy DA 2013, and currently serves as a trial attorney assigned to the courtroom of President Judge Jacqueline Cody.
In addition to the Prosecutor of the Year, District Attorney Tom Hogan handed out awards to the Chester County detective of the Year, the Law Enforcement Officer of the Year, and a special commendation to state Rep. Becky Corbin, R-155, of East Brandywine, for her assistancewith legislation that Hogansaidwouldhelphisoffice fight those accused of domestic violence.
The detective honors carried a bit of mystery this year. Hogan said the winner worked in the office’s Drug Unit, and thus could not be identified by name or photo because of the dangerous nature of his largely undercover and plainclotheswork. Instead, the award went to a person Hogan called “Detective X.”
That winner — whose name was likely known to those assembled in the room fromHogan’s explanation of his achievements — sent a letter expressing hu- mility over his work and deflecting the accoladesHogan heaped on him. Read by Assistant District AttorneyMichelle Barone, a member of the DA’s Drug Unit, the letter detailed not only the exemplary work done by all of those “Detective X” had workedwith, but the scourge of the illegal drug epidemic that made him devoted to the so-called “war on drugs.”
“It is important to wake up every morning to fight that war to protect our citizens,” the detective wrote. “I don’t deserve credit, because every success comes at the hand of a team.”
Hogan praised Corbin for her work to pass a bill that wouldmake the act of strangulation — sometimes very difficult to prove in cases of domestic violence — a sep- arate crime. He said that Corbin had worked closely with Frei on crafting the legislation, which became law last year.
In thanking Hogan for the award, Corbin said that she was “just doing what is right in my own mind,” and not looking for praise. “My goal has always been helping people in whatever way I can.”
The law enforcement award was given to members of the county’s three police emergency response teams. They were singled out one by one, as they stood with Hogan at the front of the ceremonial Courtroom One in the Historic Chester County Courthouse.
To contact staffwriterMichael P. Rellahan call 610696-1544.