Detroit’s chief judge has ordered a judge to undergo training after he handcuffed a teenage girl and threatened to jail her for sleeping and acting “attitude”. The judge had the girl handcuffed because she was threatening to go to jail and slept in his court.
36th District Court Chief Judge William McConico said after the court “conducted a swift and thorough internalinvestigation” it determined fellow 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King failed to live up to the standard of the court.
McConico, in a Thursday afternoon statement, said: “We hope these steps will help reassure the community of the 36th District Court’s commitment to serve our community with integrity.”
The 36th District Court (also known as the “people’s court”) remains committed to ensuring that justice is delivered in an atmosphere free of intimidation and disrespect. The actions of Judge King, on August 13, do not reflect that commitment.
McConico didn’t say for how long King will be removed from the docket. The judicial calendar is used by courts to decide which cases a particular judge will hear. He called the training “necessary to address the underlying factors that contributed to the incident.”
We hope this incident will not damage our long-standing relationship with local schools. McConico stated that our thoughts and actions now are with the student and family. We are also committed to corrective measures in order to show this is not an isolated incident.
We are committed to maintaining the highest standards of justice and respect in our court.
Eva Goodman (15) attended King’s Court earlier this week on a fieldtrip with a non-profit. Kings spoke to Goodman and other students in between hearings. He shouted at her when he appeared to be watching her sleep. He eventually has her arrested.
She is finally released but not before she has to wear a jail jumpsuit and have her hands cuffed.
Latoreya Til, Goodman’s mom, told The Free Press in the morning of Thursday that her daughter is likely tired, as the family does not currently have a place to live. They didn’t go to sleep until late on Wednesday night.
She has hired an attorney.
She is in pain. She’s scared. She did not want to go to the office. She feels as though her peers are against her. “She was really nervous and intimidated,” Till stated.
King said to the Free Press that he acted properly on Wednesday.
“I didn’t try to punish the young woman. In a telephone interview on Wednesday, King explained that he was trying “to serve as a dissuasion”.
I wanted to make sure that the child understood this was not a joke. It is a serious situation.
King is presiding judge for the criminal division of the 36th District, and oversees the first stages of some of the district’s most serious crimes.
Source: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/detroit/2024/08/15/detroit-judge-teen-handcuffed-sleeping-removed-docket/74816184007/