Putting The Mental in Judgmental

Ah, Detroit is a place that is run in a demonstrably poor fashion by Democrats, and its 36th District Court is even worse, which is why I try to avoid practicing there as much as possible. 

The Detroit News: 36th District judge 'unfit,' should be removed from bench, state commission says

The commission determined each of 36th District Court Judge Kahlilia Davis's multiple acts of misconduct are "egregious in their own right," according to the organization's decision and recommendation for discipline that was released Friday night. Davis was accused of failing to record court proceedings, refusing to abide by a performance plan the court set up for her and blanketly dismissing cases from a specific process server because she did not trust him.

Of course she then attempted to sue playing the race card.  The hard part about playing the race card in Detroit, however, is most of her superiors are Black themselves, and her many egregious mistakes were rather prominent, and the case was dismissed.

As for the mental part, she:

Routinely showed up late, missed days of work and performed the job poorly, according to the report. The State Court Administrative Office stepped in to make a performance plan for her, in which Davis refused to participate. Instead, she attacked the people assigned to help her "with discourteous and unprofessional written threats and barbs, including biblical quotes insinuating that her colleagues and the administrators should or would go to Hell."

Not exactly showing a proper judicial temperament there at all.

Well That Delay Sucks, AKA When Judges Don't Want To Hear A Case

Had a pretrial in a case in a local district court today.

This case has been going on for a heckuva long time.

Plaintiff filed it in 2019 (on his own without a lawyer, which was his first mistake) as a breach of contract when Defendant, an unlicensed contractor, royally screwed up the renovation of his home after a fire had occurred and botched it and then never completed it.  Defendant also did not have a lawyer and it bounced on through the process, with some major goofs along the way due to neither side having an attorney.

Plaintiff retained me to handle the trial set to be held in May 2020 as he realized he needed an attorney.  

It is now April 2021.

We've already had 4 adjournments:

The first was on June 2020, when Defendant, not being a complete fool, stated he didn't want to do a trial by Zoom when the judge gave him an option to do so.

The Court then reset the trial date for another Zoom hearing for September 2020.

The second delay was when he again refused to do a Zoom trial.  Most judges would have said too bad, but this judge was all for delaying.

The court then set a live in-person hearing for October 2020.

For a third delay, Defendant got out of that at the door to the courthouse by claiming he had been exposed to someone with Covid in the last 14 days.  Trial adjourned yet again.

Date was then set for a live trial on February 24, 2021.

As you might have guessed there was another delay.  The Court then on that day, of its own accord,  delayed it when Defendant got an attorney and instead of having the trial go as scheduled turned it into a pre-trial and then set today for yet  another pre-trial, denying my request to set a new trial date then and there for today.

I'll note we had to spend time preparing before each of these dates, getting the couple witnesses ready to go, and all for nought each time.

So today we show up for pre-trial and the Judge is like 

"Did you settle it?"  I said that we had made a settlement offer but they never responded to it, so can we get a trial date now?

Judge is, yes you can get a trial date - in March 2022.  He suggests we settle the case.  Kinda hard when the defense doesn't respond to settlement offers.

Judge claims the court is all backed up with criminal cases and that's the earliest he will do.

My client hit the roof at that point and justifiably so.   The delays are great for the defendant but justice delayed is sure as heck being justice denied.

Most other judges would have proceeded with the trial back in June 2020 and held it via Zoom and not let it get this delayed out. We're getting close to a year past that and it will be over 3 years since the case was filed before it gets to trial - and this is a simple half-day to at most a 1 day trial.

For whatever reason, he's bending over backwards for the defendant and really refusing to hear this case.

Who Knew That Letting Violent Criminals Out Of Jail Would Lead To More Violent Crime?

Progressives don't seem to get the correlation between releasing violent criminals from jail and a subsequent rise in the violent crime rate.  It's a complete surprise.

The coronavirus is being used as an excuse for implementing all sorts of progressive ideas, including ending "mass incarceration".

The Detroit News:  Wayne County Jail COVID-19 releases include violent criminals

When a Wayne County judge announced eight months ago that he would begin releasing jail inmates in response to the coronavirus outbreak, he said people accused of violent crimes likely would stay behind bars.

That statement didn't really age well, nor did it take long to expire:

[The Judge then freed] at least 35 Wayne County Jail inmates who were accused or convicted of violent crimes, according to a Detroit News review of jail records.Among those released: four men who were convicted of criminal sexual assault, and 14 others who were convicted of assault. 

What could possibly go wrong?

One of the convicted sex offenders is back in jail after prosecutors say he got out and raped three women at knifepoint.

Oh, well, that.

Dozens of other jail inmates who currently are charged with or were convicted of nonviolent crimes, but who have had previous violent convictions, also were released because of COVID-19, according to records obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

So even more things can go wrong. 

There is, of course, no consequences to the judge and others making these decisions to release these predators back into the community.

Oh, Hirono No!

Apparently any Republican nominated candidate for the Supreme Court will be asked if they have ever sexually assaulted someone.

The Washington Examiner: Hirono asks Barrett if she has ever 'made unwanted requests for sexual favors'

Seriously, the Democrat Senators have reached rock bottom and are starting to dig.

Anything to try and tarnish a rather impressive candidate with ridiculous questions, all because you don't like who is nominating her, right?

Community Outrage Can Work Sometimes - Tsimhomi Kids To Be Freed

Public pressure and media attention can do amazing things sometime to rectify outrageous injustices.

The Detroit Free Press: Judge to release 'jailed' kids, send them to summer camp

Oakland County Family Court Judge Lisa Gorcyca lifted her contempt of court rulings and ordered the release of three children at the center of a contentious child visitation case. The decision means the kids won't spent the summer in the county's juvenile detention center.

"The court agrees with the children's guardian's recommendation as to the best interests of the children," Gorcyca said this afternoon. "The court finds that is in the children's best interests to grant the father's and the guardian ad litem's motion to allow the children to attend summer camp. Children's Village is to facilitate the transportation."

Nicely done people, nicely done indeed. Now remember this when she's up for election in five years.

When Contempt Is Contemptable - Oakland Family Court Judge Gone Wild

Some Judges cross the line with their contempt powers, especially when used against children, and this is an especially horrifying and egregious example.

At a hearing on June 24, 2015 Judge Gorcyca of Oakland County Circuit Court Family Division put three siblings - two boys ages 15 and 10, and a girl, age 9, into Children's Village, a place for juvenile criminals for the offense of refusing to have lunch with their father after being ordered to do so by the judge.

Oh, and they're basically ordered held there until they're 18 with a review hearing in September.

Think about spending all summer in juvenille detention for refusing to have lunch with their father, and possibly being stuck there for years.

Even worse, they can't even clear the contempt even if they wanted to - under the court's decision, only their father, who is out of the country, can apparently get them sprung.

Even worse, under the Court's order, their mother is not permitted access to visit them nor is anyone on the mother's side of the family allowed, nor are they allowed to be with each other in the facility. Only their father and people he chooses can visit them along with the GAL.

Think about that for a moment.

This is a cruel and vindictive punishment far outweighs any "crime" the kids committed by refusing to obey the Judge's order that they go have lunch with their dad. One would think already being locked up for 2 weeks would be more than sufficient but they're stuck there until at least September, which will mean all summer when they should be out playing and being children.

Juvenile criminals who have committed violent serious crimes have been sentenced to far, far, less for so much worse.

Were the judge intentionally trying to emotionally damage the kids, she couldn't do a much worse job than this.

The transcript of the contempt hearing shows the whole thing is completely off the rails. The kids attorneys were hastily appointed literally at the hearing, and the kids are basically railroaded into juvenile jail.

The judge was extremely belittling to the children at the hearing and the exchanges in the transcript is cringe-worthy.

Regardless of the family situation, throwing minor kids in jail over a refusal to communicate with a parent is wrong. Period. End of story.

Fox 2: Judge orders kids held in juvenile center after refusing to see dad

My kids know the two younger kids and go to school and play with them. The Tsimhoni kids are good kids. That they got railroaded like this is insane. To hammer a ten year old and a nine year old not to mention, the 15 year old, on the spot like that with such a draconian punishment is totally unacceptable.

This is a travesty of justice and part of the reason why I don't practice family law. Unfortunately, Judges in Michigan are not only immune but also exempt from recall elections as the entire community is aghast at this happening and were it possible you'd see a recall on this.

So far, quite a few parents who know these kids have demonstrated for their release, an online petition has been launched, and the media are taking notice. Hopefully the pressure will cause the judge to apply a more calm and reasoned approach to dealing with these kids and get them out of juvie jail.

The Detroit Free Press has picked up the story: Judge jails kids for refusing lunch with dad

No Judge, They Didn't Mean That When They Sang "Can I Get A Witness?"

Wayne County Judge McCree removed for an affair with a plaintiff on one of his cases with some of the action taking place in his courtroom chambers.

Yes, he really got a witness, on a case he was presiding on, in his chambers. Not exactly an impartial display of justice when you're busy banging one of the parties in the case for six months, and unlike what you may see on TV, judges are not allowed to do that.

The Detroit News: Wayne Circuit Judge McCree removed from bench

Note when reading the article that Wayne County voters, of which Detroiters are the majority, may just reelect him to the bench. The Supreme Court, realizing the real possibility of that occurring, ruled that if he's reelected he's automatically suspended from office for six years without pay.

Michigan Judge Fines Himself For Cell Phone Disturbance

Judge Raymond Voet of Ionia, Michigan, certainly has integrity, and in spades.

With a policy of finding anyone whose cell phone goes off in court with contempt, he didn't hesitate to apply his policy to himself when his own phone went off. He found himself in contempt and applied a fine of $25.

USA Today: Judge fines himself when smartphone goes off in court

I've never practiced in front of him so I don't know personally how he is as a judge, but this certainly speaks to his integrity and uniformity in properly applying the law and his local rules.

NY Judge Issues Himself A CCW, A Bang And A Censure Ensues

One of the many problems with the discretionary May-Issue Concealed Carry Permit systems prevalent in many states is the corruption or indeed the appearance of corruption inherent in such a system.

With a few people in power having essentially absolute discretion over whether other law abiding person may receive carry permits, corruption is rather inevitable whether it be issuance of permits to movie stars, big campaign contributors, or good ol' buddies of those with the discretion to issue the permits.

One judge's actions illustrate the problem with the system:

ABA Journal: NY Judge Rapped for Approving His Own Concealed Carry Permit, Accidental Gun Discharge in Chambers

A New York judge who has been threatened several times during his nearly 20 years on the bench decided he wanted to get a concealed-carry permit and take a loaded firearm into the Tioga County courthouse at which he worked.

However, although there was no rule against having a gun in chambers, Judge Vincent Sgueglia should not have approved his own concealed-carry permit, the state Commission on Judicial Conduct said in an opinion earlier this month.

So here we have a person with the discretion to issue, he's facing a threat so he decides, in his own discretion, to issue himself a carry permit. Rather understandable, I'm sure he's issued permits to ordinary civilians dealing with threats (perhaps or perhaps not - after all NY is rather stingy with issuing permits). He's used to using his discretion to issues so he issued it to himself.

Of course, he should have had a fellow judge issue it for him via the good ol' buddy system as above rather than doing it himself and no one would have even blinked in New York.

He likely would have gotten away with it had he not had a serious lapse in safety:

an accidental discharge of a revolver in chambers in 2010, as Sgueglia was trying to repair a faulty mechanism that cocked the .38-caliber Smith and Wesson and rotated the cylinder.

The judge, who is now 70, stopped bringing a loaded gun into the courthouse after the accidental discharge incident. He plans to retire at the end of 2012.

Once again, don't play with it if you're carrying it.

Don't try to "fix" a loaded firearm.

Respectfully, I also don't see how a "defective mechanism" could cock the hammer on a S&W revolver all by itself. More than likely, he inadvertently or deliberately cocked it and was trying to lower the hammer down on a loaded chamber and slipped, causing the hammer to fire off the round. Otherwise, something even stranger happened and the reporting of the incident is sadly typical for firearms reporting.

So a bad combination of a May-Issue regime that allows for this sort of unnecessary corruption and an avoidable accident brings a censure to someone who is most likely an otherwise perfectly upstanding and honorable judge.

Certainly it is past time for New York to move away from the corrupt may-issue regime to the far more honest shall-issue option. Unfortunately given NY politics, such reform is likely far off into the future.