Fourth District Judges

Stephen L. Borrello
Judge Borrello was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 2003, elected in 2004 and re-elected in 2006. He served as an attorney and partner with the law firm Gilbert, Smith & Borrello, P.C. in Saginaw, Michigan. Judge Borrello also served as an assistant prosecuting attorney from 1988 to 1990 in Saginaw County. He earned his B.A. from Albion College and his J.D. from the Detroit College of Law. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Saginaw Valley State University where he teaches Criminal Procedure and Evidence.
Term expires January 1, 2013.

Alton T. Davis
Judge Alton Thomas Davis was appointed to the Court of Appeals by Governor Jennifer Granholm on July 14, 2005. He was subsequently elected to the Court in 2006 and again in 2008. Judge Davis had served as a visiting judge on the Court of Appeals on several different occasions from 1985 to 1996.

At the time of his appointment, Judge Davis was the Chief Judge of the 46th Judicial Circuit of Michigan, which encompasses Otsego, Crawford, and Kalkaska Counties. He was in his twenty-first year on that bench and seventeenth year as Chief Judge.

Prior to his election to the trial bench, Judge Davis was in private practice for ten years. During that period of time, he also served for four years as Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney and then Prosecuting Attorney in Crawford County.

To date, the Judge has been involved in the following professional, public, and civic capacities:

• State Bar of Michigan, November 7, 1974
• Former President of the 46th Circuit Bar Association, 1981 and 1982
• Member, Michigan Trial Lawyers Association
• Chairman, State Bar of Michigan Committee on Criminal Jury Instructions, 1995; 1998
• Chief Judge, 46th Circuit Trial Court Demonstration Project, June 1996 to July 2005
• Member, American Judges Association
• Member, Sigma Nu Phi Fraternity Legal
• Former Chairman, Crawford County Democratic Party, 1980 through March 1984
• Regional Coordinator for Governor James Blanchard during his first campaign
• Trustee, Michigan State Bldg. Authority, by Appointment of Governor James Blanchard
• Member, St. Francis Episcopal Church, Grayling, Michigan
• Trustee, Inland Lakes High School Educational Foundation, 1988 to 1990
• Past President, and Former Director, Rotary International, Grayling, Michigan; Paul Harris Fellow
• Adjunct Instructor, Kirtland Community College, 1987 to 1990
• Member, Fraternal Order of Elks
• Member, Former Director, and Past-President, Crawford County Fair Board, 1984 to 1999
• Member, Rules Committee, Michigan Judges Association
• Member, Michigan Judges Association Executive Board, 1995 to present
• Chairman, Michigan Judges Association Legislative Committee, 1999
• Michigan Judges Association:
  • Treasurer, 1999 to 2000
  • Secretary, 2000 to 2001
  • Vice-President, 2002
  • President-Elect, 2003
  • President, 2004
  • Past-President, 2005
• Member, Chief Justices Council of Chief Judges
• Chairman, Michigan Joint Judicial Conference, 2009
• Michigan Supreme Court Collections Committee, 2004 to present
• Staff Participant, New Judicial College, DuBois, Wyoming, 2000 to present
• Chairman, Michigan Court of Appeals Education Committee, 2005 to present
• Board Member, Michigan Judges Retirement Fund by gubernatorial appointment, 2005 to present

Michael J. Kelly
Judge Kelly was elected to the Court in 2008. After serving as a judicial advisory assistant to a circuit court judge, he worked as a trial lawyer in private practice for twenty years. He attended Michigan State University and earned his B.A. from the University of Michigan – Flint in 1984. Following his enrollment at the Detroit College of Law, he was accepted as a participant in the London Law Program at Regents College in London, England in 1987 and received his J.D. from the D.C.L. in 1988.
Term expires January 1, 2015.

Patrick M. Meter
Judge Meter was appointed to the Court in 1999. Previously, he served as a judge of the Saginaw Circuit Court, and he worked as a prosecuting attorney for Saginaw County and as an attorney in private practice. Judge Meter received his bachelor's and law degrees from the University of Notre Dame. 
Term expires January 1, 2015.

Peter D. O'Connell
Judge Peter D. O’Connell was elected in 1994 and currently serves on the Michigan Court of Appeals in the new Hall of Justice in Lansing, Michigan. He was a Trial Court Judge for 16 years prior to his election to the Court of Appeals and also served as the Chief Assistant Prosecutor in Isabella County. He holds a Juris Doctorate from Detroit College of Law and was the first trial judge in the State of Michigan to obtain a Masters of Judicial Studies Degree from the University of Nevada-Reno. He has served on the faculty of the Michigan Judicial Institute, the Institute for Continuing Legal Education, the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan, and the National Judicial College. Judge O’Connell has also served as an instructor at New Judge’s School and is an adjunct professor at the Thomas M. Cooley Law School.

Judge O’Connell has authored articles in the Detroit Law Review, Criminal Practice Law Review, Colleague, Benchmark, Michigan Bar Journal, and the case book entitled Social Science in the Law.

Judge O’Connell has been on the bench since 1979. 
Term expires January 1, 2013.

Donald S. Owens
Judge Owens was appointed to the Court in 1999, elected in 2000, and reelected in 2004. Previously, he served as judge of the Ingham County Probate Court from 1974 to 1999. Before that, he was an attorney in private practice in Lansing. Judge Owens received his bachelor's, master's and law degrees from the University of Michigan.
Term expires, January 1, 2011.

William C. Whitbeck
Judge William C. Whitbeck has served with distinction on the Michigan Court of Appeals since Governor Engler appointed him in 1997. Judge Whitbeck was elected in 1998 and re-elected in 2004. He will run for re-election in 2010.

In the past 12 years on the bench, Judge Whitbeck served six years as Chief Judge and two years as Chief Judge Pro Tem.

In private practice for over 20 years, Judge Whitbeck was a partner in the law firms of Honigman Miller, Dykema Gossett, and McLellan, Schlaybaugh & Whitbeck.

Judge Whitbeck also served in the administrations of three Michigan Governors: George Romney, William Milliken, and John Engler. He served on the transition teams of President Ronald Reagan and Governor Engler. Judge Whitbeck served in the U.S. Army Reserves for six years and was honorably discharged in 1972.

Judge Whitbeck was an Assistant to Governor Romney, Special Assistant to Secretary Romney at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and Area Director of the Detroit Office of H.U.D. In the Milliken administration, he served as Director of Policy in the Michigan Public Service Commission. He served as Counsel to Governor Engler for Executive Organization and Director of the Office of State Employer.

Judge Whitbeck is a member of the Michigan State Bar Association, the American Bar Association, the Ingham County Bar Association, the Michigan Judges Association, the Michigan Law Revision Commission, and Scribes. He is a Fellow of the Michigan State Bar and ABA Foundations. He is a past Chairman of the Administrative Law Section of the Michigan State Bar Association. He is a “Master of the Bench” and past President of the American Inns of Court Chapter at the MSU College of Law. He is also a past Chair of the Michigan Historical Commission.

Judge Whitbeck graduated from the University of Michigan Law School in 1966 and Northwestern University School of Journalism in 1963. Judge Whitbeck and his wife are members of St. Mary Cathedral. They reside in Lansing’s capitol district in their historic 1878 home. Judge Whitbeck has written his first legal mystery, To Account for Murder, which will be published in November 2010.
Term expires January 1, 2011.