7. Have you ever been known by another name not listed above: Yes (my maiden name). If so, what was it? Mary Margaret Stiel.

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1 PUBLIC INFORMATION: 1. Name: Mary Margaret Mara 2. Name as it will appear on ballot: Mary Mara 3. Judicial Office you are seeking: Judge, 51 st District Court, Waterford MI 4. Campaign website address: marymara.com 5. Community in which you live: Waterford MI 6. Date of Birth: 06/24/1965 Place of Birth: Pontiac MI 7. Have you ever been known by another name not listed above: Yes (my maiden name). If so, what was it? Mary Margaret Stiel. 8. Please state your marital status: Engaged to Kenneth Grant. Self-employed 9. Military Service: Have you had any military service? No. 10. Education: List each college and law school you have attended, including dates of attendance, degrees received and dates degrees were granted. Michigan State University ( ); BA James Madison College (graduated December 1987) Detroit College of Law ( ); Juris Doctor, Magna Cum Laude (graduated June 1991) Western Michigan Cooley Law School (2014 to present); pursuing an LLM in Homeland and National Security Law (anticipated graduation date: Spring 2017). 11. Employment Record: List (by year) the following activities: A. All non-law related business and professional activities, including employment by corporations, companies, firms or other enterprises, partnerships, institutions and organizations, nonprofit or otherwise, including firms, with which you were connected as an officer, director, partner, proprietor or employee since graduation from college. I have had no non-law related business or professional activities since graduating from college. B. All law-related professional activities, including the names of all law firms, corporate law departments, courts, governmental agencies, and private agencies with which you were affiliated, and including the names of other lawyers with whom you were associated in any information association : Law clerk for National Bank of Detroit in Detroit, Michigan : Law clerk for Oakland County Corporation Counsel, Pontiac, Michigan. 1

2 : Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, Oakland County Prosecutor s Office, Pontiac, Michigan 2002-present: Litigator, Oakland County Corporation Counsel, Pontiac, Michigan C. If your past employment includes service as a law clerk to a judge, state the name of the judge, the court, and the dates of your service. I never served as a law clerk to a judge. 12. Judicial Office: State (chronologically) any judicial offices you have held, whether such position was elected or appointed, and a description of the jurisdiction of such court. I have never held a judicial office. 13. Public office: State (chronologically) any public offices you have held, other than judicial offices, including the terms of service and whether such positions were elected or appointed. State (chronologically) any unsuccessful candidacies for elective public office. I have never held public office or ran for public office prior my current campaign for Judge in the 51 st District Court, Waterford. 14. Honors and Awards: List any scholarships, fellowships, honorary degrees, and honorary society memberships that you believe would be of interest to the public. Prosecution Service Award from the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan 2001 Distinguished Service Award from the Oakland County Prosecutor s Office: June 14, year service award from Oakland County Michigan (May 2016) 15. Memberships: List all organizations to which you belong that are active in lobbying before public bodies. Please list all other organizations (other than Bar associations or professional societies) to which you now or ever have been a member. If you are no longer a member, state the approximate date your membership ceased. I have no such memberships now or in the past. 16. List all bar associations and professional organizations of which you are or were a member and include the dates of membership. Also indicate whether you have served as an officer or committee chair of a Bar association, professional society or similar organization. Michigan State Bar Association (1991 to present); Oakland County Bar Association (joined 2016). 17. Court admission: List all courts in which you have been admitted to practice, with dates of admission and lapses if any such memberships lapsed. Please explain the reason for any lapse of membership. Give the same information for administrative bodies which require special admission to practice. Michigan State Courts: 1991 present Unites Stated District Court, Eastern District of Michigan: 2003 to present United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals: 2004 to present. 2

3 18. Published Writings: List the titles, publishers, and dates of books, articles, reports or other published material you have written or edited. Please supply one copy of all published material not readily available to the public. Also, please supply a copy of all speeches by you on issues involving constitutional law or legal policy. If there were press reports about the speech, and they are readily available to you, please supply them. If any of this material is available online, please include an appropriate link; if the material is in print format only, please scan the text and append to your responses in electronic format. Testified before the House Judiciary Committee for the State of Michigan regarding proposed revisions to sentencing guidelines with a special emphasis upon the scoring of offense variables relating to child sexual assault cases. (in approximately 2001). Testified before the House Judiciary Committee regarding a proposed amendment to Michigan law governing the recovery of restitution payments from settlement funds received by inmates while incarcerated within the MDOC. (in approximately 2012) 19. With respect to the last five years: a. Did you appear in court regularly, occasionally or not at all? Regularly. b. What percentage of these appearances was in: 1. Federal courts: 70% 2. State courts of record: 20% 3. Other courts (labor arbitrations and administrative hearings): 10% c. What percentage of your litigation was: 1. civil: 95% 2. criminal: 5% d. State the number of cases you tried to verdict or judgment (rather than settled) in courts of record, indicating whether you were sole counsel, chief counsel, or associate counsel. In the past 5 years, I tried one case to verdict in Federal District Court and conducted approximately 7 labor arbitrations. In each instance, I acted as sole counsel. e. What percentage of these trials were: 1. jury (the federal case was a jury trial) 2. non-jury (the remaining labor arbitrations were non-jury). f. If you believe the responses to (a) through (e) above do not reflect your experience, please describe any experience, which you consider the equivalent of trial experience. 3

4 In my current position as Litigator for Oakland County Corporation Counsel, I oversee all civil litigation brought against or on behalf of the County. In this role, I supervise newer associate attorneys and evaluate all lawsuits for possible trial or settlement. I have been able to get a vast majority of all civil lawsuits filed against the County dismissed by summary judgment (approximately 95% of all claims filed) prior to trial. When a claim with merit presents itself, I recommend settlement and I have done so in just a handful of cases since My position as Litigator for the County requires a firm grasp of the rules of evidence and civil procedure. The relatively number of trials I have conducted over the past five years is indicative of successful pretrial discovery and motion practices and not a lack of civil litigation experience altogether. In addition to traditional litigation, I have also handled dozens of labor arbitrations and personnel appeal board hearings on behalf of Oakland County when a county employee and/or Sheriff Deputy is disciplined or terminated for misconduct on the job. Arbitration hearings are very similar to trials. As an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney from 1991 to 2002, I tried more than 100 criminal cases with a special emphasis upon the ethical yet zealous prosecution of child sexual predators. In addition to this litigation experience, I spent two years as an appellate attorney in the Oakland County Prosecutor s Office from 1991 to I am therefore very familiar with appellate procedure and oral advocacy. 20. Describe two (2) of the most significant trials, litigated matters, or matters that would be representative of your litigation experience, which you personally handled and give citations if the cases were reported. Give a capsule summary of the substance of each case, the nature of your participation in the litigation, the date of disposition, the final disposition of the case, and a succinct statement of what you believe to be the particular significance of the case. Paul Sadzinski v Oakland County Sheriff Deputy Scott Eriksen; (US District Court, E. D. Mich 2015) (Case Number ). Plaintiff alleged excessive force against Oakland County, Deputy Scott Eriksen and several other deputies in U.S. District Court. Oakland County and the other Deputies were dismissed by summary motion. The case proceeded to a jury trial in front of the Honorable Mark Goldsmith in April- May of 2015 with the jury returning finding no cause of action at the conclusion of a week-long trial. I was solely responsible for the defense of this case from beginning to end. This case demonstrates that police officers are sometimes easy targets for claims of excessive force but when the officer is innocent of any wrongdoing, he or she can still prevail in a court of law. This is true despite an ongoing national debate and focus on claims of police brutality in the media and around water coolers across the Country over the past several years. Neal v. MDOC, 297 Mich App 518 (2012). This was a class action lawsuit brought by an unknown number of female prisoners in the MDOC. They alleged sexual assault and misconduct by MDOC guards and the parties settled the litigation for $100 Million. As part of the settlement, the parties agreed that the identity of plaintiff class members would be kept non-public. 4

5 Acting on behalf of the Oakland County Reimbursement Office ( OCRO ) (the office charged with collecting, among other things, restitution on behalf of crime victims), I filed a motion to intervene in the litigation in an effort to discover the names of plaintiffs. Without these names, the OCRO had no way to collect restitution from plaintiff class members from settlement proceeds as specifically provided for (and required) by Michigan law. My efforts to intervene were unsuccessful in the trial court (Washtenaw County) and I appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The Court of Appeals reversed the trial court in a published decision (Neal v. MDOC, 297 Mich App 518 (2012)) and remanded the case to the trial court with instructions that the OCRO and the Wayne County Prosecutor s Office (another intervening party) be allowed to intervene in the action. The trial court was also ordered to fashion a system which would allow crime victims to recover restitution from proceeds of the settlement before they were disbursed to the plaintiffs. This case is significant because it entailed $100 Million of tax payer funds being paid to unidentified plaintiffs. The settlement agreement was structured to keep the identity of the plaintiffs non-public. My efforts on behalf of the OCRO paved the way for hundreds of crime victims across the state to recover restitution funds they would have never received from settlement proceeds in the underlying class action. 21. Have you ever taught a law course at a college or law school? If so, provide particulars including courses taught and any significant committee work or other contributions while a faculty member. While employed as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney, I was a frequent instructor at the Oakland Police Academy. I lectured on topics such as Search and Seizure (4 th Amendment) and Evidence law to cadets in the academy. More recently, (on June 2, 2016), I helped with a training program held at the Michigan Supreme Court for Judges and court administrators across the State. This program was designed to provide Judges and Courts with information needed to deal with a possible pandemic in this State. The training scenario dealt with a woman suspected of having the Ebola virus that refused quarantine and/or treatment for the virus. I participated in the planning, preparation, and presentation of the training exercise to Judges and court administrators in attendance. 22. Describe any pro bono or community service activities in which you have engaged. I am a current volunteer at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Pontiac Michigan in the No One Dies Alone (NODA) program. As a NODA volunteer, I sit with terminally ill patients in their final days and hours of their life in an effort to bring them comfort and peace. I watch for signs of discomfort and report them to the nursing staff. If the patient has a declared religious affiliation, I pray with or for the patient. Regardless of their religious affiliation (if any), I often play soothing music, hold their hand, and try to provide a peaceful, loving presence for them in their final hours. Many of the patients have no family. Some of the patients have a family but the family needs respite after days (sometimes weeks) of their loved one s hospitalization. I have been a NODA volunteer for approximately 6 years. 5

6 I served as committee chairperson for my parish s most recent capital fund raiser (St. Benedict Catholic Church in Waterford, Michigan) in We raised nearly a half million dollars for capital improvements for the Church during this campaign. I am very active in my church community. I frequently donate food for funeral luncheons and serve wherever needed. 23. Have you ever been admonished, reprimanded, suspended, disbarred or otherwise disciplined or cited for a breach of ethics or unprofessional conduct by any court, administrative agency, bar association, disciplinary committee or other professional group? No, I have not. 24. Have you ever been convicted of any federal, state, county or municipal crime (excluding nonalcohol-related traffic offenses)? No, I have not. 25. Are you aware of any physical, mental, substance abuse, or emotional health impediments to your serving in the judicial position you seek? No, I am not. 26. Please provide the names of all organizations that have endorsed your candidacy: Sheriff Michael Bouchard Oakland County Deputy Sheriff s Association Hon. Kirsten Neilsen Hartig (Troy District Court) 27. Identify a current or former Judge whom you admire and explain why. There are so many but if I had to pick one, I would say the Honorable Mark Goldsmith (US District Court, ED Michigan). His judicial knowledge and acumen is unparalleled but he is still very humble, approachable, and pleasant. He is a great trial judge. He lets the lawyers before him try their case but always maintains command of his courtroom. He is the consummate professional and he always shows great respect for the attorneys and litigants appearing before him. 28. What skills do you possess that qualify you for the judicial office you are seeking? Extensive and vast litigation experience: I have extensive litigation experience in both criminal and civil law. Most of the cases I have handled over the past 14 years as Litigator for Oakland County Corporation Counsel have involved claims of alleged civil rights violations. My experience in civil rights litigation has provided me with a solid understanding of constitutional law and the limits placed upon the government (mostly law enforcement officers) in the performance of their duties. I believe this experience will prove to be invaluable as a district court judge. My experience as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney for 11 years provides me with solid understanding of criminal procedure and criminal law. 29. How do you deal with difficult people, including peers, lawyers, judges, clients and litigants? I make an honest effort to understand their position and where they are coming from. If a person feels that they have been afforded proper respect and that they have been given a fair opportunity to state 6

7 their position (even if they don t prevail at the end of the day in court), they will walk away from the encounter feeling like they had their day in court. 30. If you observed a party in your courtroom being poorly represented by an unprepared or ineffective lawyer, how would you handle the situation? First and foremost, I must remain impartial. If I take action to assist the unprepared or ineffective lawyer, this could amount to a violation of my obligation under the code of Judicial Conduct to remain impartial at all times. Consequently, I would not reprimand the attorney in front of the parties or take other corrective action which might be interpreted as assistance from the bench for or against a party before me. If the issue was serious and I believed that the attorney s client s rights were not being protected or sufficiently advanced in court, I would meet with the attorneys from both sides in chambers to discuss my concerns and, if appropriate, provide an extension of time for the attorney to prepare. If the attorney continued to be unprepared or ineffectual, I would consider filing a grievance. I would also consider replacing the attorney if they were appointed by the court. 31. Describe the three most important factors that you would consider in fashioning a sentence in a criminal case. A. The law. i.e. What is the statutory maximum? Is there a minimum? Is probation a viable alternative to incarceration? B. Circumstances of the offense: How serious was it and does the offender have a past record? C. The victim s impact statement. What effect did the defendant s actions have on the victim and their family? 32. When called upon to interpret law, what considerations do you believe appropriate, and what, if anything, should not be considered? The only things that should be considered are the relevant statutes as they are written and case law interpreting those statutes. I must apply the law as it is written. I must not let my personal opinions or beliefs about the matter dictate my decision and I cannot be swayed by public opinion or sympathy for one side or the other. 7

8 II League of Women Voters Voter Guide 1. Summarize your biography, including your education (degrees conferred, colleges and law school), career and employment experience, elected offices held, community service activity, organizational affiliations, and other pertinent information. I am a life-long member of the Pontiac/Waterford community. I grew up here. I am a grateful, lifelong member of St. Benedict Catholic Church. I attended St. Benedict Elementary for 8 years and graduated from Pontiac Catholic High School in My son Dominic is a member of the class of 2017 at Waterford Kettering High School. My roots within the community are deep. I have devoted my entire legal career (25+ years) to matters involving law enforcement and public safety. As an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Oakland County from 1991 to 2002, I devoted most of my time prosecuting crimes against children and vulnerable adults. I have spent the last 14 years in Federal Court litigating issues of constitutional law on a daily basis. 2. Describe the general nature of you law practice or other legal work you have done, the typical clients you have represented, areas of specialty or concentration and the geographic region of your practice. I have spent my entire legal career working on behalf of the residents of Oakland County. As an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney from 1991 to 2002, most of my clients were crime victims and most of the victims I represented were children who had been terribly abused. I learned so much from these children about strength, perseverance, and courage. As a Litigator for Oakland County from 2002 to present, my client is the County of Oakland, its elected officials and employees. Here, I have devoted most of my time to defending Oakland County Sheriff Deputies in Federal Court while litigating issues of Constitutional law. 3. Why should voters elect (or re-elect) you to judicial office; what qualities (e.g. temperament, diligence, etc.) and experiences do you have that commend you to the judicial office you seek? I have an incredibly strong work ethic. As the ninth of ten children in my family, I started work at a very early age, sometimes working two or three jobs to put myself through MSU and later the Detroit College of Law graduating magna cum laude and 5 th in my class. I have devoted my entire legal career (25+ years) to public service. My focus has been on all matters impacting public safety and constitutional law. I am honest, conscientious, and my record is beyond reproach. Although I definitely have the legal skills and experience to make a great District Court Judge, I also have the intangibles (a great work ethic, compassion, and common sense) needed to be a great Judge. 8