A Michigan judge faces a federal lawsuit after jailing a 15-year-old student who fell asleep while he was talking about his law career.
The girl’s mother, Latoreya Till, sued Judge Kenneth King over the incident, which took place during a vocational program that was run by a non-profit organization.
The program participants watched King preside over a murder trial. When court recessed, King delivered a lecture that was streamed on the court’s YouTube channel.
ELG fell asleep during King’s talk, so he “berated and humiliated her,” according to the complaint.
When court resumed, ELG was handcuffed and taken to a holding cell. A female court officer told her to strip and put on a prison jumpsuit, but she only removed her hooded sweatshirt.
After spending several hours in lockup, ELG was return to court for a “mock trial,” which was also streamed on YouTube.
During the mock trial, King threatened to send King to “juvey” and falsely portrayed her as “a dishonest, disrespectful delinquent,” her mother stated.
Till sued King in the Eastern Michigan federal court for violations of her daughter’s Fourth Amendment rights. The lawsuit also included claims of false arrest, malicious prosecution, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
King filed a motion to dismiss the case, claiming that he was shielded by judicial immunity. The district court denied King’s motion, and the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the ruling in a decision written by Judge Ronald Gilman.
He ruled that King was engaged in non-judicial acts regarding ELG, so immunity does not apply and the case should not be dismissed.
“Till also alleges that there is no case number, order, or any other court record associated with the events that transpired,” Gilman wrote. “This matters because the existence of a court record or order indicates that a judge’s actions constituted judicial acts.”
“Judge King himself confirmed that the purpose of the mock trial was simply to scare ELG because she had ‘disrespected’ him,” he added.
