ANN ARBOR, MI – Brian Mackie will start his 28th year as Washtenaw County prosecutor next year.

For the first time since he took office in 1993, he could face a Democratic primary opponent.

“He’s never really had a serious challenge,” said attorney Eli Savit, a 36-year-old Ann Arbor native who has launched a campaign to run for prosecutor in the August 2020 primary.

Savit pledges to reform prosecution in Washtenaw County if elected, saying it’s time to end the era of mass incarceration.

“It’s time to turn the page and establish a progressive prosecutor’s office,” he said.

Savit, a 2001 Pioneer High School graduate and 2010 University of Michigan Law School graduate, has clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and since 2016 has served as Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan’s senior legal counsel.

He lives in Ann Arbor and also is a UM Law School adjunct professor. His past experience includes working for federal appellate judges in San Francisco and Washington, D.C., as well as two years at a private firm handling civil litigation in D.C.

Though he has no experience as a prosecutor, Savit argues that’s a plus to his candidacy because he brings perspective on how the criminal justice system interacts with other parts of society, such as housing, education and workforce development.

“This is stuff that I deal with in my day job every day in Detroit. I see the criminal justice system really affects everything,” he said.

“It affects our ability to get people back to work. It affects people’s ability to gain housing.”

Washtenaw County Prosecutor Brian Mackie speaks at a rally near Braun Court to mark the third annual National Gun Violence Awareness Day on Saturday, June 3, 2017.Hunter Dyke | The Ann Arbor News

Mackie responded to news of Savit’s campaign with a statement via email, saying for those with no experience as a prosecutor or defense attorney, it appears much easier than it is in reality.

Savit has an impressive background as a judicial clerk and an academician, Mackie said.

“He is part of a wave of ‘progressive’ candidates for prosecutor/DA/county attorney offices across the country,” he said.

At a time when “liberal” is seen by some as indistinguishable from “reactionary,” Mackie said, some of those candidates are doing very well. He said the best example is from Philadelphia, where Larry Krasner, the new district attorney, “has been a leader of the view that only criminal offenders are victims in the justice system.”

“The argument is familiar: It is not judges or lawmakers who decide what should be a crime and whether there is punishment, prosecutors should make it all go away,” Mackie said. “Locally, our extremely low prison commitment rate of 16.1% of felons being incarcerated is ignored in favor of the popular shibboleth that every person convicted of any offense, however minor, is incarcerated.”

Prosecution is a serious job for serious people, Mackie said, arguing ideas should be debated and voters should decide what they want.

Savit said he wants a prosecutor’s office that can serve as a progressive model for the rest of Michigan.

He’s running to build a fairer, smarter and more cost-effective justice system that prioritizes rehabilitation over punishment, he said.

Aspects of his reform plan include elimination of cash bail, more support for addiction and mental-health treatment programs, and plea-bargaining reform.

“Cash bail is a system in which, when you’re charged with a crime, you have to effectively pay a certain amount of money to gain your freedom pending trial,” he said, arguing that’s socioeconomically unjust and counterproductive. “You see a lot of people that are being held in jail pending trial, they’re separated from their families, they end up losing their job, and again, that just makes them more desperate and makes them more likely to return to crimes of desperation.”

He thinks it could help address crowding in the county jail if more people were released pending trial, while those deemed a threat to society or a flight risk still could be held.

The reforms he wants, Savit argues, aren’t particularly radical and have been pioneered in other states.

“You see folks in Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, and they’re using the leverage of the prosecutor’s office to really move in a more progressive direction,” he said. “And I think that’s really important because the prosecutor’s office is really the most powerful player in the criminal justice system. They have all the discretion in the world.”

As an example of where he and Mackie disagree, Savit points to the decision to criminally prosecute state Senate candidate Anuja Rajendra over the wording of her campaign literature last year.

The American Civil Liberties Union came to Rajendra’s defense, calling the charges against the Ann Arbor businesswoman unconstitutional, and convinced a judge to dismiss the case.

Mackie’s office alleged Rajendra violated state law by giving voters the impression she was an incumbent, with campaign mailers containing statements such as, “As your State Senator, I’m steadfast in my commitment ....” There’s a compelling state interest in protecting the integrity of elections, Mackie’s office argued.

“That’s a case where I just don’t see why the criminal justice system needs to be involved,” Savit said. “You know, you had grammatical inaccuracies … she goes on to lose the primary, and then you wait until October to charge her? What good is that doing?”

Prosecutors too frequently bring criminal charges against people when there may be another solution, Savit said.

In another high-profile case, Mackie drew mixed reactions from the community when he decided criminal charges were not warranted after a white Ann Arbor police officer shot and killed Aura Rosser, a 40-year-old black woman, during a police response to a domestic dispute on Ann Arbor’s west side in November 2014.

Mackie determined Officer David Ried’s lethal use of force was justified since Rosser reportedly approached officers with a knife “raised in an attack position” and ignored commands to drop it.

Rosser’s death inspired Black Lives Matter demonstrations and calls for police reform, leading to Ann Arbor’s formation of a police oversight commission, as well as more law enforcement training around dealing with people in mental health crises.

Savit said he hasn’t reviewed all of the evidence in the Rosser case, so he doesn’t know whether charges were warranted, but he thinks Mackie should have recused himself and referred the case to the attorney general to be assigned to another county prosecutor.

That’s how any officer-involved shooting should be handled since there’s a close relationship between the prosecutor’s office and local police, raising questions about impartiality, Savit argues.

After Mackie decided no charges were warranted in Rosser’s death, D’Real Graham, a member of activist group Radical Washtenaw, waged a write-in campaign against Mackie in November 2016, though Mackie prevailed in a landslide victory.

Mackie’s election history:

2016 – defeated write-in D’Real Graham with 97.4% of vote

2012 – defeated Libertarian Justin Altman with 85% of vote

2008 – unopposed

2004 – defeated Republican John Stanowski with 64% of vote

2000 – unopposed

1996 – defeated Republican Kirk Tabbey with 65% of vote

1992 – defeated Republican Lynwood Noah with 59% of vote after defeating Democrat Terrence O’Hagan in primary with 64% of vote

Mackie argues he has assembled a great prosecutor’s office with talented, ethical assistants who work well in all areas.

The county prosecutor is responsible for handling felonies and misdemeanors charged under state law, juvenile delinquency proceedings, terminations of parental rights for abuse and neglect of children, and mental health commitments.

Mackie’s office also has a special unit devoted to prosecution of domestic violence and criminal sexual conduct, and a civil division that establishes paternity and child support obligations.

His office’s stated mission and vision is to protect the rights, safety and security of all people in the county through fair enforcement of state laws, setting the standard for “firm, fair and progressive prosecution and innovative prevention strategies.”

Savit argues too much taxpayer money is spent sending people to prison without addressing the root causes of crime.

“You see the same people involved in the justice system over and over again,” he said, adding a lot of them have addiction problems.

“If we can promote rehabilitation, if we can root out socioeconomic inequalities, we can actually make ourselves both safer and save money,” he said, arguing it’s also the morally right thing to do.

“I mean, people are struggling. If people make one mistake, it shouldn’t derail the rest of their lives,” he said.

Working in Detroit, Savit said he has led major public-interest lawsuits against the opioid industry, banks and slumlords, as well as civil-rights lawsuits on behalf of Detroit schoolchildren.

“I’m well-versed on the substantive criminal law and I have no doubt I’d be able to step in substantively on day one and do a good job,” he added.