Attorneys

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James E. Czarnecki II

Michigan Criminal Defense Attorney, Trial Lawyer & Appellate Advocate

When Your Freedom Is at Stake, Experience Matters.

If you are searching for a Michigan criminal defense attorney, Michigan criminal appeals attorney, or Michigan appellate lawyer, you are probably looking for more than someone who will simply appear in court.

You need an attorney who knows how to investigate a case, challenge the prosecution's evidence, recognize constitutional violations, litigate aggressively, negotiate when negotiation makes sense, and—when necessary—take a case all the way through trial and appeal.

James E. Czarnecki II has spent his entire legal career doing exactly that.

James Czarnecki is a Michigan criminal defense attorney and founding partner of Czarnecki & Taylor PLLC, a criminal defense firm representing clients throughout Michigan. He has litigated more than 1,000 cases, handling everything from misdemeanor and traffic offenses to some of the most serious felony charges, including homicide, criminal sexual conduct, attempted murder, controlled-substance offenses, armed robbery, weapons offenses, and federal crimes.

His experience extends from the trial courtroom to the Michigan Court of Appeals, Michigan Supreme Court, and federal courts. He has represented clients in direct appeals, post-conviction proceedings, motions for relief from judgment, and other matters seeking to overturn convictions, obtain new trials, correct unlawful sentences, or otherwise obtain relief from an unjust result.

A Career Built Around Criminal Defense

James Czarnecki was born and raised in Michigan and has dedicated his professional career to criminal law.

He graduated from Wayne State University in 2001 with both a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice. While an undergraduate, he received Wayne State University's first undergraduate research grant for criminal justice. His research focused on community policing, and he presented his work at a discussion forum at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.

He earned his Juris Doctor from Wayne State University Law School in 2004, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Moot Court program. During law school, he gained experience with three organizations that provided an unusually broad foundation for a future criminal defense lawyer:

• State Appellate Defender Office

• Federal Defender Office

• Wayne County Prosecutor's Office

That early experience allowed James to see criminal cases from multiple perspectives—prosecution, indigent defense, state appellate defense, and federal criminal defense.

An Appellate Lawyer Who Started His Career Doing Complex criminal Appeals

After graduating from law school, James began his legal career working on criminal appeals.

He later spent nearly ten years at a well-known Detroit-area law firm, where he became head of the criminal department. During that time, he developed extensive experience analyzing trial records, researching constitutional issues, writing appellate briefs, litigating criminal cases, and identifying errors that could change the outcome of a case.

He also volunteered his legal services to assist the ACLU with criminal cases, further developing his experience with constitutional litigation and appellate advocacy. While volunteering his time on ACLU criminal cases regarding constitutional rights, working with a legal team, the ACLU enforced a defendant’s rights to counsel after a plea based appeal.

James has spent two decades studying criminal appeals understands that sometimes the most important issue in a criminal case is not obvious from the verdict. It may be buried in a transcript, an evidentiary ruling, a constitutional objection, a sentencing calculation, an ineffective-assistance claim, or something that happened before trial.

More Than 1,000 Cases Litigated

James has litigated more than 1,000 criminal cases in the trial court throughout his career. His first trial immediately after law school involved an attempted-murder charge. The result?

Not guilty.

Since then, he has continued to litigate felony and misdemeanor cases through verdict, including cases involving multiple criminal sexual conduct charges, assault with intent to murder, domestic assault, assault and battery, and other serious offenses. He has also successfully litigated motions resulting in dismissals and suppression of evidence involving illegal searches and seizures.

His experience is not limited to negotiating pleas.

When a case should be tried, James has the courtroom experience to try it. When a case can be resolved without a conviction or incarceration, he has the negotiation experience to pursue that result.

And when a conviction has already occurred, he has the appellate and post-conviction experience to examine whether the conviction and sentence can withstand legal scrutiny.

Michigan Criminal Appeals & Post-Conviction Relief

James Czarnecki has substantial experience as a Michigan criminal appeals attorney.

He has handled appeals involving serious felony convictions and has pursued relief in the Michigan Court of Appeals, Michigan Supreme Court, and federal courts. His appellate work has included cases in which convictions were overturned, new trials were obtained, and sentences were reduced.

One published Michigan Court of Appeals decision involving James is People v. Gonzalez-Raymundo, 308 Mich. App. 175 (2014). James represented the defendant in litigation involving four criminal-sexual-conduct convictions and constitutional issues concerning the defendant's right to an interpreter. Following post-conviction litigation, a new trial was ordered. When the prosecution appealed, James successfully defended the new-trial order before the Michigan Court of Appeals, which issued a published opinion affirming the new trial.

This illustrates an important part of James's appellate practice:

A criminal appeal is not simply an argument that the jury got it wrong. It is an opportunity to identify legal errors that may have deprived a defendant of a fair trial.

Czarnecki has a distinctive constitutional-rights background

This is another point that is genuinely significant. Czarnecki worked with the ACLU on criminal cases and participated in litigation involving constitutional rights and appellate counsel.

The ACLU's own historical materials identify Czarnecki as one of the cooperating attorneys involved in the litigation surrounding the right of indigent defendants to appointed appellate counsel.

6.500 Motions & Post-Conviction Relief

A conviction does not always end a person's ability to seek relief.

For individuals who have already been convicted and sentenced, James handles Michigan motions for relief from judgment under MCR 6.500, as well as other forms of post-conviction litigation.

These cases can involve issues such as:

• Ineffective assistance of counsel

• Constitutional violations

• Newly discovered evidence

• Improperly admitted evidence

• Prosecutorial misconduct

• Improper jury instructions

• Sentencing errors

• Newly recognized legal principles

• Errors that were not properly raised at trial

• Other grounds for post-conviction relief

A Michigan 6.500 motion attorney must be willing to go back through the history of a case and examine what happened—not simply accept the conviction as the final word.

James approaches these cases by reviewing the transcripts, pleadings, evidence, rulings, appellate history, and underlying constitutional issues to determine whether a legitimate basis for relief exists.

Federal Criminal Defense Experience

James' experience also extends beyond Michigan state courts.

He has represented clients in federal court facing serious federal charges, including conspiracy, alien smuggling, assaulting federal agents, union fraud, and other federal offenses.

Federal criminal cases can involve complex investigations, federal sentencing rules, multiple law-enforcement agencies, substantial prison exposure, and complicated evidentiary and constitutional questions.

Experience matters when the consequences are this serious.

A Trial Lawyer Who Knows When to Fight—and When to Negotiate

Aggressive criminal defense does not mean taking every case to trial.

Sometimes the best result is a trial victory.

Sometimes it is a dismissal.

Sometimes it is suppression of critical evidence.

Sometimes it is a reduced charge.

Sometimes it is avoiding jail or prison.

And sometimes the best result is a carefully negotiated resolution that protects the client's future as much as possible.

James has negotiated with local prosecutors, police departments, United States Attorneys, the FBI, and the ATF.

Experience in Complex Criminal Litigation

James has handled criminal matters involving:

• Criminal sexual conduct

• Murder and homicide

• Attempted murder

• Assault with intent to murder

• Armed robbery

• Drug and controlled-substance offenses

• Weapons offenses

• Federal conspiracy

• Federal fraud

• Alien smuggling

• Assaulting federal agents

• Domestic assault

• OWI/DUI

• Felony and misdemeanor offenses

• Sentencing issues

• Probation matters

• Constitutional litigation

• Criminal appeals

• Post-conviction relief

• MCR 6.500 motions

More Than a Lawyer—An Advocate Who Looks for the Legal Issue Others Missed

James Czarnecki's philosophy of criminal defense is straightforward:

If there is a legal issue, he will find it.

That philosophy comes from years of reviewing criminal records, studying transcripts, writing appellate briefs, preparing for trials, litigating constitutional issues, and examining cases from every possible angle.

His successes are rooted in pretrial preparation, investigation, legal research, brief writing, and detailed analysis of the facts and law.

Commitment to the Michigan Criminal Justice System

James has also devoted time to improving the quality of criminal defense beyond his individual cases.

Together with partner Genevieve L. Taylor, he completed a comprehensive study concerning the adequacy of appointed criminal defense in Macomb County. The study examined Michigan Indigent Defense Commission standards and addressed how Macomb County could improve the quality of court-appointed representation while ensuring that indigent defendants receive representation that is fair, cost-effective, and constitutional.

This work reflects a broader commitment to the constitutional rights of criminal defendants and to improving the criminal justice system itself.

Education & Professional Credentials

Wayne State University Law School
Juris Doctor, 2004

Wayne State University
Bachelor of Arts, Political Science, 2001
Bachelor of Science, Criminal Justice, 2001

Leadership & Legal Experience

• Editor-in-Chief, Wayne State Law School Moot Court Program

• State Appellate Defender Office intern

• Federal Defender Office intern

• Wayne County Prosecutor's Office intern

• Former head of the criminal department at a prominent Detroit-area law firm

• Criminal appellate attorney

• ACLU volunteer criminal appellate advocate

• Member, Macomb County Bar Association

Bar Admissions

• State Bar of Michigan

• United States District Court, Eastern District of Michigan

Contact James Czarnecki and Czarnecki & Taylor PLLC for a confidential case evaluation.

James E. Czarnecki II
Michigan Criminal Defense Attorney | Trial Lawyer | Criminal Appeals Attorney | Post-Conviction Advocate