John A. Smietanka (born June 28, 1941, in Chicago) was the prosecutor for Berrien County, Michigan, from 1974 to 1981, and a United States Attorney in the Western District of Michigan, appointed by Ronald Reagan, from 1981 until 1994. Notable cases that Smietanka handled in the U.S. Attorney's office include the disappearance of West German freight ship captain Fredrich Helling in Lake Michigan,[1] an investigation into sales of diluted orange juice,[2] and a major Chicago gang prosecution which fell apart amid accusations of inappropriate favors given to prosecution witnesses.
On January 24, 1992, President George H. W. Bush nominated Smietanka to be a judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
However, with the Democrats controlling the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Smietanka's nomination languished, and it lapsed with the end of Bush's presidency.
[5] In 1994 and 1998, Smietanka was the Republican candidate for Michigan Attorney General, but lost in both years to his opponents.
[9] Since 2001 Smietanka has been an instructor for an annual program held by the John Marshall Law School in Luhačovice, in the Czech Republic, to educate young Czech and Slovak lawyers about the American legal system.