A judge who punished a teenager for falling asleep in his courtroom during a field trip faces a complaint by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, the state agency in charge of disciplining Michigan judges.
The complaint says 36th District Court Judge Kenneth King was giving a presentation to a high school field trip last August, when one of the students fell asleep. He woke her up and chastised her, but when she fell asleep again, he ordered her to be removed, handcuffed, and to change into a jail uniform.
King was live-streaming the field trip presentation on Youtube and demanded the girl publicly state her name, her home address, and her grade and school.
When the girl was returned to his courtroom, still handcuffed and in a jail uniform, King threatened to send her to a juvenile detention facility. From the complaint:
“I'm thinking maybe she needs to go to the Juvenile Detention Facility. You do understand that we have a jail for kids. Not a very pleasant place to be in. I'm going to sleep tonight while you're sitting in the juvenile detention facility. That's where you want to go? The thing about the juvenile detention facility is that a lot of the people that are there are not just bad kids. You have a lot of mentally ill kids there. The last time I was there, I had a kid who was actually sticking a spoon up their rectum and spreading feces on the wall.”
King then began what he called a trial for contempt of court, and told the girl's classmates to vote on whether she should spend a night in jail.
"During this voting process that was designed to, and did, scare and embarrass the teenager, respondent [King] was laughing and enjoying himself," the complaint says.
The complaint states that King's treatment of the teenager was criticized in local, national, and international media, and that he brought disrepute to himself and the judiciary.
The complaint also includes alleged violations related to a separate incident, when King ordered an attorney to be handcuffed and detained for several hours after a short disagreement with the attorney over procedure.
King did not respond to a request for comment. He has 14 days to file a response to the allegations after receiving the complaint, after which the commission may hold a hearing. The commission has requested that a special master be appointed to oversee the proceedings.
If the commission determines a judge has violated court rules or ethics guidelines, it can request the Michigan Supreme Court to censure, suspend, or remove a judge from office.
King was previously suspended over the incident with the high schooler for several weeks. He now handles lower-level cases in the traffic division. King has also been sued by the girl and her parents.
