Special Report N T H R Bagdade's Legal Journey from page 15 was happening. [Bagdade] always took the time to explain everything to me. When we were in court and the prosecutor would cut me down, he was the only one who would stand up and fight for me." The trial started off on a fast track, but, much to Bagdade's chagrin, quickly got derailed. Prosecutors said the boy had confessed to what amounted to pre- meditated murder. Nathaniel Psychological tests Abraham and showed he was both his attorney, emotionally impaired Daniel Bagdade and had attention defi- cit disorder. Bagdade made a motion ahead of the trial to have the boy's confession and statements to police excluded. At a hear- ing held specifically to decide whether the confession was voluntary and whether the defendant understood what was going on, Bagdade had Abraham take the stand. "It was the only time he took the wit- ness stand," the attorney says. "I always kept him under wraps. His responses were gibberish, and Judge Moore deemed it an illegal confession." Shifting Tide Bagdade was in shock when the judge allowed the prosecution to take his rul- ing deeming the confession illegal to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The court eventually decided 2-1 that the confession could be admitted. That took time. And two years elapsed before the trial began. Those were crucial years to Bagdade's case. Now Abraham was 13. "It took so long that Nathaniel's appear- ance changed," Bagdade says. "He looked completely different than that little boy look we were banking on. He had become a teen with a hardened look on him." At the same time, Bagdade said, "a spate of major juvenile crimes" rippled across the country. "The public was saying, `Something has to be done.' The perspec- tive of jurors had changed. And he was convicted." The jury convicted Abraham of second- degree murder. "Thankfully, I was able to argue for him to serve time as a juvenile." Judge Moore sentenced Abraham to juve- nile custody until he turned 21. For the two years Abraham was await- ing trial in Children's Village in Waterford, Bagdade visited him two or three times a week. "I felt very sorry for him, but I never became a father figure, nor did I want to be. The hours of visits turned into a friendship." At Maxey After his sentencing, Bagdade continued High-profile, low-key attorney Judith Doner Berne Special to the Jewish News H e was shoveling snow in front of his house on a street in one of West Bloomfield's older subdivisions. He led his interviewer in through the garage, then answered questions at the kitchen table. Making judicial history by representing the young- est person ever to be charged with first-degree mur- der has changed Daniel Bagdade's life, he says. But it doesn't seem to have changed Daniel Bagdade. "Dan is always professional, very unassuming. He's a person without ego or arrogance," says Oakland Chief Deputy Prosecutor Deborah Carley, who rep- resented the state against Bagdade's young client, Nathaniel Abraham. "It's a relief when Dan comes in. There's no games, no politics." Oakland County Circuit Judge Edward Sosnick agrees. "He's a very quiet guy. In this 'once-in-a-life- time' case, he put himself on the line. He felt that this 11-year-old had potential. He went above and beyond to advocate for him. To be a caring counselor is what 16 February 15 • 2007 it's all about." Judge Kimberly Small of the 48th District Court in Bloomfield Township says, "Dan is what my grand- father [a lawyer] used to call 'a gentlemen's lawyer.' Dan's what I call the real standard. "He cares very much about what he does," she says. "He's in the profession to impact this commu- nity and even the world. His word is his stock in trade. He's the quintessential mentsh." Lawyerly Start tion a bit to represent more and more children who were in trouble. "I love both that challenge and the opportunity to work with young people and their families and to try and help them." Although he had been involved in high-profile cases before and since, the magnitude of the Abraham case "Dan's what I call the real standard. His word is his stock and trade. He's the quintessential mentsh." Bagdade and his wife, Sarita, were high school sweethearts. He took her to their Detroit Mumford High School prom. He earned both his undergradu- ate and law degrees at Wayne State University in Detroit. "I've always wanted to be an attorney," he says. "Law school doesn't prepare anyone for a case like this. I know of no other criminal case that had the staying power of this one. "Professionally, it changed my life because I learned so much," Bagdade says. "My practice changed direc- - 48th District Court Judge Kimberly Small didn't really hit until the first full court hearing. As Bagdade arrived at Children's Village in Waterford, he saw a number of television trucks out front. "I was stunned to see that one or two were national — CNN and Fox News. The reporters were waiting for me and I realized I wasn't in Kansas any- more. It just exploded from there."