![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2021\/06\/edmartell.jpg?resize=400%2C300&ssl=1\")
Edward Martell was back in Wayne County Circuit Judge Bruce Morrow\u2019s courtroom. The same courtroom where his life changed in 2005, when he was facing up to 20 years in prison for drug charges.<\/p>\nEdward Martell was back in Wayne County Circuit Judge Bruce Morrow\u2019s courtroom. The same courtroom where his life changed in 2005, when he was facing up to 20 years in prison for drug charges.<\/p>\n
But this time, Martell was experiencing a whole new range of emotions. He wasn\u2019t back as a defendant \u2014\u00a0Martell, the recent Detroit Mercy Law grad was being sworn in as a member of the Michigan Bar. It was the culmination of a challenge Morrow gave Martell nearly 16 years earlier.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny other judge would have flushed me. I would be in prison,\u201d Martell said. \u201cI would have a number. I may have never rebounded. I was 27-years-old, so I was pretty stuck in my ways. He issued me a challenge instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morrow challenged Martell to be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company instead of being a drug dealer, giving Martell three years\u2019 probation instead of sending him to jail.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took him up on it,\u201d Martell said of the challenge. \u201cHe\u2019s my hero. The guy is phenomenal. He\u2019s just a unique character. He sees something in almost all of his defendants. It\u2019s just a matter of who is going to take that opportunity and run with it.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis judicial philosophy is really what the story is here. I\u2019ve made some substantial changes, but his judicial philosophy is I think something that other judges should consider. He sees the best in people. I think especially when you talk about non-violent drug offenses, there shouldn\u2019t be a tendency to want to incarcerate. I took a couple early bumps and bruises, but eventually I caught my stride.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martell was a high school dropout, so his first step was getting a GED. He then enrolled at Wayne County Community College and earned an associate\u2019s degree.<\/p>\n
Martell started searching for schools to earn his bachelor\u2019s degree, with his ultimate goal being law school. Detroit Mercy was at the top of Martell\u2019s list because it had a law school and it would accept the most transfer credits.<\/p>\n
Being able to transfer credits was important for Martell because like any other student, he didn\u2019t want to lose any time, but he was also on a budget. Growing up in poverty in Inkster had led him down the path of becoming a drug dealer and despite Martell\u2019s good intentions, he likely needed a miracle to be able to afford college.<\/p>\n
Luckily for Martell, Detroit Mercy had that miracle in the form of the Jesuit Founders\u2019 Scholarship.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey gave me a full academic scholarship,\u201d Martell said. \u201cAt that age, I was grown but I was still struggling. I was only a few years out of the streets, so I needed that boost. Detroit Mercy saved me. It was everything, I didn\u2019t know how I was going to pay for college. I couldn\u2019t imagine getting my education without the assistance of Detroit Mercy. I\u2019m grateful, very grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martell earned a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science in 2014 and had his heart set on law school. Martell had been working at Detroit Mercy Law as a work study student and wanted to attend. But there was no guarantee he would be admitted because of his criminal record and even if he did get in, Martell wasn\u2019t sure how he was going to pay for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you apply, you gotta come to terms with your character and fitness history,\u201d Martell said. \u201cI had to have a \u2018Come to Jesus\u2019 moment with myself and pour myself out in the admissions letter. Let them know, I had issues in my past and that\u2019s one of the reasons that I want to practice law, to bring about change and help young men and women not go through the same issues. Ultimately, I was accepted and I was ecstatic.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen about a week later they called me in and gave me a Fellowship Award, a full academic scholarship and I was just in awe. I was just praising the Lord at that point. Detroit Mercy has been so generous to me.\u201d<\/p>\n
The classroom proved to be the easy part; it was outside of the classroom where he began to truly learn how to become a lawyer.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was blessed to go University of Detroit Mercy, but when I got there I wasn\u2019t prepared for the social fit,\u201d Martell said. \u201cI was up in age and I come from the streets. Detroit Mercy Law helped to polish me into the professional that I am today. They taught me how to walk, how to talk.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these professional events, some students don\u2019t go to them, I go to them. They taught me how to shake with my right hand and hand my card in my left hand, how to never drink at an event \u2014 I wasn\u2019t drinking anyway but you carry a glass because you don\u2019t want to look awkward. But you don\u2019t want to be that fool everybody talks about the next day either. There\u2019s so much I learned from them. It\u2019s way more than academics, I learned how to be a professional.\u201d<\/p>\n
Martell was on his way to earning his law degree, but even then, there was no guarantee he would become a lawyer. Before he could even take the bar exam, he had to pass the state\u2019s character and fitness test.<\/p>\n
Martell said he submitted more than 1,200 pages and had three witnesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter about six hours, they deliberated for about 15 minutes and they gave me a favorable recommendation, and I just sobbed like a baby,\u201d Martell said. \u201cThat was the win right there, not the bar exam. That was the victory and I sobbed like a baby. I\u2019<\/span>ll never forget that day.\u201d<\/p>\n Martell passed the bar exam and then was sworn in by Morrow in his courtroom, a place Martell spent a lot of time in over the years.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019<\/span>ve sat in his court room probably 100 times since. I would come back and observe his court room,\u201d Martell said. \u201cThe guy is very unique, he\u2019<\/span>s exciting to watch. Just the way he talks to defendants. He sparked something in me. I can\u2019t give enough thanks. I told him, \u2018God saved me, but he used you.\u2019 All Judge Morrow asks of me is to pay it forward. He says, \u2018Ed, bring some people with you. Reach down and bring them with you.\u2019 That\u2019s our duty, it\u2019s our job.\u201d<\/p>\n Since being sworn in, Martell\u2019s story \u2014\u00a0first reported by Deadline Detroit \u2014 has sparked national attention, being reported by outlets like FOX News, CNN and the Washington Post.<\/p>\n \u201cWith all the media attention, I think it\u2019<\/span>s important to share my story while we can,\u201d Martell said \u201cAnd I\u2019<\/span>ll tell you why, there\u2019<\/span>s some young man out there who is struggling and I feel with the right love and the right opportunity, that young man or young woman could make something of themselves. Not everyone is going to be an attorney, but they can be a skilled tradesman, they can be a CDL driver, they can be an entrepreneur, there\u2019<\/span>s a hundred things. I just don\u2019<\/span>t want people to think just because we come from a place or because we grew up without a father or because we have a past criminal record, that we can\u2019<\/span>t.\u201d<\/p>\n He\u2019s already begun that work as an attorney at Perkins Law Group in Detroit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been a hard-fought battle, but we won,\u201d Martell said. \u201cAnd now, a new battle begins. The battle now is to reshape and reframe the narrative. There\u2019s good folks out here. Everybody makes mistakes, right? Now, I have the tools to help. Before, I had the passion, now I have the tools to get into the fight. And if I can ever do anything to be of service for Detroit Mercy, I\u2019m there. That\u2019s what Detroit Mercy is about, service. How ever I can be of service, I\u2019m anxious for the invite.\u201d<\/p>\n By Dave Pemberton<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Edward Martell was back in Wayne County Circuit Judge Bruce Morrow\u2019s courtroom. The same courtroom where his life changed in 2005, when he was facing up to 20 years in prison for drug charges. But this time, Martell was experiencing a whole new range of emotions. He wasn\u2019t back as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":7397,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[12,4,2,21,8],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/88\/2021\/06\/edmartell.jpg?fit=400%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Kcng-1Vi","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7396"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7396"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7399,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7396\/revisions\/7399"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/alumni\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}