GRAND RAPIDS, MI – John Smietanka, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Michigan before starting a private practice that included representing defendants in high-profile cases, believed everyone deserved to be heard.

“Everybody was entitled to a fair shake,” retired FBI special agent Gene Debbaudt said.

“He was so fair with his clients. He would go out of his way to explain things. The ultimate professional, and just a kind, gentle person,” Debbaudt told MLive/The Grand Rapids Press.

Smietanka, who lived in Stevensville in Berrien County, died Tuesday, Oct. 28, surrounded by his family at Corewell Health Lakeland Hospital in St. Joseph. He was 84.

He worked with his father, Allan, in Chicago for two years after passing the bar in 1969. He moved to Michigan where he s

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