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'SCARY MARY,' RECOVERING ADDICTS FEATURED ON DATELINE

Judge's ' Dealings With Three Drug- Court Participants' Battles to Be Highlights on Show

Judge "Scary Mary" Chrzanowski will be fully introduced to the nation Sunday when her dealings with drug-court participants will be highlighted on NBC- TV's "Dateline."

"Dateline" and NBC anchor Lester Holt followed Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Mary Chrzanowski and three people she helped shepherd through juvenile and adult drug courts for about a year.  The story will broadcast at 7 p.  m.  Sunday.

"It's an accurate depiction of how tough drug addiction is and how tough it is to kick drug addiction," said "Dateline" producer Fred Rothenberg.  "There are 2,700 drug courts across the country.  They have been one of the more successful weapons in the war on drugs."

Chrzanowski, 52, was chosen due to her charismatic personality, ability to communicate and her own battle with being an alcoholic.  She has been in recovery for more than a decade.

"Mary is great," said Rothenberg, a more than 20year "Dateline" veteran.  "She is charismatic, caring and always on time.  She is street smart and has a big heart.  She's one of the more interesting judges I've come across.  Her story and how she interacts with people is very interesting."

Holt last year told The Macomb Daily: "She's obviously someone who is very passionate about what she does and passionate about the people she's serving."

Rothenberg and his colleagues at the magazine-style TV show were impressed with Chrzanowski while covering the second "comic book murder" trial in 2011 in which Michael George of Macomb Township was convicted a second time of first-degree murder in the death of Barbara George, 32, in the couple's Clinton Township store in 1990.

In addition to "Scary Mary," The Macomb Daily learned last year that Chrzanowski is also known as "the show stopper" in the county jail because she cuts through defendant's lies.

Chrzanowski often provides entertaining, off-the-cuff remarks from the bench.  She on occasion has turned a hearing in her Mount Clemens courtroom into a therapy-like session, ordering defendants to talk to their parents or other loved ones in open court.

Sunday's episode will feature a female teenage defendant in the circuit court juvenile and two adult males in the Warren drug court.  Two of the participants were addicted to heroin, Rothenberg said.

Heroin addiction has afflicted many Macomb County residents in recent years.  The county led the state in fatal heroin overdoses in the three-year period 2010- 12.

Drug court is designed as a treatment, recovery-based alternative to incarceration for non violence offenders with addictions.