Mary Chartier

Biographical Info

A "pitbull in high heels" and "Mike Tyson in the courtroom" are just a few of the names that clients have given Mary over the years. Mary's advocacy skills are the result of years of experience litigating serious and complex criminal defense cases in federal and state courts around Michigan.

Mary has successfully defended clients in numerous federal and state trials, including winning a full acquittal in a federal drug dealing and money laundering case where every other co-defendant entered a guilty plea and dozens of witnesses testified against the client. In the end, Mary convinced the jury that the government had not met its very high burden of proof, and the client heard “not guilty” across the board. Mary has also achieved “not guilty” verdicts in many other cases. One case involved an attempted murder in which the government called numerous witnesses, but the jury believed the client that the shooting was in self-defense. Another case involved multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct in which two complainants testified. No offer was made because the government believed its case was so strong - the government was clearly wrong when the jury came back with its "not guilty" verdicts. Another recent victory came after a retrial for a man who had been wrongfully imprisoned for nine years for crimes he did not commit. The jury was only out for 19 minutes before returning their “not guilty” verdicts. And, in the last 5 years, Mary and the C&N team have exonerated 4 people who had been wrongfully convicted and imprisoned, including a man who had spent 26 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Mary’s criminal defense experience is extensive. She has served as lead counsel in numerous cases. She has represented clients accused of white collar crimes, such as health care fraud, mortgage fraud, and money laundering, as well as clients accused of drug dealing, terrorism, crimes against the United States, bank robbery, criminal sexual conduct, and homicide. She has litigated and won numerous motions, including recently obtaining a dismissal in a federal case in which she successfully argued prosecutorial vindictiveness on the part of the government.