Meet the Team
Tanya Abdelnour joined PAAM in December 2018 as the Director of the Child Abuse Prosecution Resources Unit after spending almost 20 years with the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office. She transitioned to PAAM’s Violence Against Woman Project as the Director in January 2020. Ms. Abdelnour began her legal career in June of 1999 at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office shortly after graduating from the Detroit College of Law at MSU (MSU College of Law). Ms. Abdelnour spent most of her career with Wayne County assigned to the Special Victims Unit, where she handled cases involving domestic/intimate partner violence, child physical and sexual abuse, internet crimes against children, and sexual assaults of adolescents and adults. Ms. Abdelnour also served in the Juvenile Division handling delinquency matters and the General Trials Division, where she handled non-capital and capital cases including robberies, carjackings, and homicides. Ms. Abdelnour began working extensively on the untested rape kit project in 2010 as a member of the Special Victims Unit. This led to her appointment as a Lead Attorney on the Wayne County Sexual Assault Kit Task Force in 2014. As a lead attorney on the Task Force, Ms. Abdelnour was responsible for overseeing the prosecutions resulting from the Task Force investigations, as well as supervising several assistant prosecutors assigned to the Task Force. Ms. Abdelnour has presented at local and national training events/conferences on sexual assault and issues surrounding untested sexual assault kits. She can be reached at abdelnourt@michigan.gov.
Dana Deasy is the Violence Against Women Project Training Attorney. Most recently, Ms. Deasy practiced as an assistant prosecuting attorney for the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office, where she handled general felonies and misdemeanors. In the courtroom, she handled a wide variety of cases from homicides to forfeitures to sexual assaults. Her special unit assignments included prosecuting domestic violence-related felonies, personal protection order violations in family court, narcotics and forfeiture, crimes against senior citizens, and animal cruelty. She trained new assistant prosecutors and worked on a district court drug court team. Prior to more than twelve years with Macomb County, Ms. Deasy worked for the Michigan Attorney General’s Office where she spent over six years prosecuting tax enforcement and fraud cases, and child abuse and neglect cases.
During her time as an assistant prosecuting attorney, Ms. Deasy taught at the Macomb Police Academy, advanced detective schools, and provided training for the Macomb County Sheriff’s Department, Michigan State Police multijurisdictional task forces, and other professionals. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Relations and American Public Affairs from James Madison College at Michigan State University. She earned her Juris Doctor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio.
Alexandra McGowan is the Conference Coordinator for the Violence Against Women Project Unit. Alexandra joined PAAM in February 2020. She splits her time between the VAWP unit and the Victim Service Training Unit (VSTU) where she also serves as the unit conference coordinator.