Former suburban Detroit prosecutor gets no additional jail time in sentence on corruption charges

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A former Detroit-area prosecutor will serve no additional time behind bars after he was sentenced Wednesday on corruption charges that he embezzled more than $600,000 from drug and drunken driving forfeiture funds.

A Michigan State Police investigation found former Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith used the funds to throw parties, buy gifts and install a personal home security system.

Smith, 56, accepted a plea bargain from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel in which pleaded guilty to official misconduct, tampering with evidence and conspiracy to commit forgery while seven other counts against him were dropped.

Smith apologized in court “for spending these drunk driving forfeiture funds as I did.”

This sentence was ordered to be served concurrently with a 21-month federal sentence Smith already has served after pleading guilty to attempting to obstruct justice.

Smith also was sentenced to four years of probation, a fine of $8,000, forfeiture of his public pension, 750 hours of community service and restitution of $25,000.

Smith, a Democrat, began working in the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office in 1993, was first elected prosecutor in 2004 and resigned as prosecutor in March 2020 after the attorney general filed criminal charges.