By DEBRA HAIGHT
BCR Correspondent
2018 was a year of change for the Berrien County Trial Courts. Two longtime judges retired which led to two new judges being appointed. In addition, both the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office and the Berrien County Public Defender Office saw changes.
Judge John Donahue was the first judge to announce his retirement.
He left the bench at the end of June. Judge Scott Schofield also announced plans to retire and he served through the end of August.
Donahue, 64 and a Niles native, was first elected to the Circuit Court bench in November, 2004 and was the presiding judge of the court’s Civil Division at the time of his retirement. He spent six years in the court’s family division and the last seven and a half years in the civil division.
Donahue said he felt it was time to retire. While he’s enjoyed his years as a judge, he’s ready for new adventures in his retirement. He plans to split his time between St. Joseph and Costa Rica where he expects to spend a few months each winter.
“It’s been enjoyable,” he said. “I’ve enjoyed all of it but after 13 years I get a little worn out making decisions all the time. It will be nice to not have all these decisions week in and week out and have that anchor around my neck.”
Schofield, 66, a Plainwell native, left the bench nearly 21 years to the day he was sworn in. He came to the judiciary after 21 years in private practice with a Niles law firm. He is a graduate of Alma College and the University of Michigan Law School.
“I’m the only judge who has spent time in all three divisions of the trial court,” he noted. “I started in the criminal division, then went to the civil division before going to the drug and domestic violence courts. I spent five years in Niles before going back to St. Joseph to be the presiding judge in the family division and then the presiding judge in criminal.”
Schofield said his faith has informed his actions. “People need to know why they’re being sentenced and why what they did was wrong,” he said. “It’s not because they’re a bad person but that they made bad choices. Everyone makes mistakes and when they do, they need to admit it and prepare to do better in the future.”
New judges taking the bench in 2018 after the Donahue and Schofield retirements were Gordon Hosbein and Jennifer Smith. Hosbein is a St. Joseph native but most recently had been an assistant prosecutor in Macomb County. Smith was the chief assistant prosecutor in Berrien County before her appointment.
Hosbein had been an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Macomb County
since 2008, where he handled the felony docket and periodically represents the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services in abuse and neglect petitions. Before that, Hosbein ran a solo law practice.
Hosbein, 38, earned a bachelor’s degree from Oakland University in 2003 and a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 2007. He is the son of St. Joseph attorney Gary Hosbein and graduated from St.
Joseph High School in 1998.
Smith is a native of Chelsea, Mich. on the east side of the state and is a double graduate of Wayne State University. She earned her bachelor’s degree in 1993 and her law degree in 1996. She started in the Berrien County Prosecutor’s Office in 1997 as an assistant prosecuting attorney and has served as the chief assistant prosecutor since 2013.
In an interview this fall, she said she gained insight into the life of a judge by watching the judges of Berrien County over the years, including the last few years when she was primarily assigned to Judge Schofield’s courtroom. “Some are faster, others are slower, they have different demeanors and deal differently with courtroom decorum,” she said.
Smith’s appointment to the bench made for changes in the prosecutor’s office. County Prosecutor Michael Sepic named Steve Pierangeli as the new chief assistant prosecutor and Jeffrey Taylor as the new chief trial attorney.
The Public Defender’s Office also had changes with the resignation of Carl Macpherson who left mid year to take a job in Oregon. Christopher Renna was appointed chief public defender on an interim basis and was then given the permanent job in the fall.
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