The Funny Farm

"It's always hard to lose a good friend in government," said Imad Hamad, Michigan director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and cochairman of BRIDGES along with Collins. "We in the community are losing a champion of dialogue and an open-minded leader, and a person who worked hard, since his first day in office, to build trust."

Collins' office also tried the nation's first terrorism casearising from the Sept. 11 attacks, winning two convictions. But the case turned into a fiasco after attorneys challenged the convictions amid allegations of prosecutorial misconduct. One of the assistant U.S. attorneys on the case, Richard Convertino, is under investigation for his role in the case and is suing U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Collins, accusing the Justice Department of gross mismanagement in the war on terror. In November, Collins' office dismissed criminal charges against two former Kmart executives charged with securities fraud after the prosecution's star witness waffled on the witness stand.

Collins' office also suffered a major setback during the recent acquittals and dismissals of charges against 16 Detroit police officers who were indicted for violating the civil rights of crime suspects. Three other officers pleaded guilty to lesser charges and cooperated in the investigation.

Collins said that case did not influence his decision and emphasized that U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn said the officers should never work on the force again. Collins noted that his office prosecuted five Mt. Clemens officers in June in connection with the beating of a 24-year-old college student. Four of them were convicted.