Judges elected in Hazel Park, Oak Park 20 20

Voters elected a new judge in Oak Park 45th District Court and elected a judge appointed earlier this year for the 43rd District Court in Hazel Park.

Hazel Park Judge Brian Hartwell, former mayor of Madison Heights, was appointed to the position in June by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

He ran against Ferndale resident

Kelly Collins, an Oakland County assistant prosecutor, and won the Hazel Park judgeship in a vote of 11,795 to 8,725, according to unofficial county vote tallies.

“I have the temperament to be a judge after years of public scrutiny as mayor,” Hartwell said in a League of Women Voters profile before the election. “I never lost my cool. It’s one thing to practice as an attorney, it’s another to lead while controlling emotions and making difficult decisions ... I am from this community and have devoted my career to public service.”

There are three courts and four judges in the 43rd judicial court system, which includes Hazel Park, Ferndale and Madison Heights.

Attorney Jamie Powell Horowitz was elected to one of the two judgeships in the 45th District Court in Oak Park. She will replace longtime Judge David Gubow, who is retiring in January. The court’s jurisdiction includes Oak Park, Royal Oak Township, Huntington Woods and Pleasant Ridge.

Horowitz beat challenger Brenda Richard in a vote of 11,795 to 8,725Currently Horowitz is a special prosecutor for hate crimes in Wayne County Circuit Court and serves as a special assistant Attorney General handling select cold case homicides.

“I am an advocate for criminal justice reform,” Horowitz said in her League of Women Voters profile. “Courts that address the intersecting issues of mental health, substance abuse, poverty, lack of education, and institutionalized racism help to reform the justice system when we treat citizens as individuals.”