Michael Reynolds, 67, was in failing health with heart disease and diabetes, said his wife, Kathleen Schacht Reynolds.
Michael Reynolds, the tenacious and loquacious courtroom bulldog who prosecuted some of Wayne County’s highest-profile homicides while earning praise from judges and adversaries, died Tuesday at his home in Grosse Pointe Woods. “He loved the work as prosecutor,” said Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel who was a law school intern under Reynolds. “He was a big voice for the voiceless and tireless on behalf of justice.” Reynolds,67, was in failing health with heart disease and diabetes, said his wife, Kathleen Schacht Reynolds. “He just slipped away,” she said. Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said that as a young attorney she spent hours in the law library with Reynolds as they prepared their cases. He was remarkably meticulous and compassionate, Worthy said. “I know it sounds trite, but he truly believed in doing the right thing,” she said. “Victims often get lost in the system, but he knew victims’ lives had value. He was very passionate. And he prepared and prepared and prepared. Nobody out-prepared Mike Reynolds.” Reynolds served two stints as an assistant prosecutor beginning in 1980, with a 1994-2011 hiatus in civil practice with Barris, Sott, Denn & Driker, PLLC, specializing in claims of dairy herds stricken by power line stray voltage. He joked he swapped killers for electric cows. But it was in grim homicide cases at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice in Detroit where he earned his reputation. Reynolds‘ personal docket was crammed with high-profile dismemberments, bodies stuffed in cements barrels, vengeful dopesters and love triangles resolved with car bombs.
