During his (Gary Davis-Headd's) sentencing in October of 2019, his first wife, Choree Bressler, told the court he used his mother's connections to protect him.
( "Commission wants judge who lied for child abuser son be disbarred" . FOX 2 News - Detroit. August 05, 2022.)
Related Posts:
Disciplinary Counsel's Proposed Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Law -
Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
January 21, 2022
Respondent Judge Tracy Green's Proposed Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Law - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
January 23, 2022
Disciplinary Counsel's Reply To Respondent's Proposed Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Law - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
January 31, 2022
Respondent Judge Tracy Green's Response To Disciplinary Counsel's Proposed Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Law - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
January 31, 2022
The Master's Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Laws - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
February 28, 2022
Wayne County judge lied about son's abuse of her grandsons, official finds
The Detroit News
March 03, 2022
Wayne County Circuit Judge Tracy Green was aware her grandsons were being physically abused by her son and lied to investigators about the abuse, a retired judge has ruled.
In a 27-page ruling released Monday, retired Ann Arbor trial Judge Betty Widgeon determined that Green violated Michigan court rules and the state's rules of professional conduct by knowingly concealing evidence of the abuse of her grandsons and making false statements about her knowledge of that abuse.
Widgeon found that the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission did not prove a third complaint, that Green knowingly made false statements to the commission.
Widgeon was appointed last year by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission to serve as a special master, or fact-finder, after the commission lodged a misconduct complaint against Green in November of 2020.
Widgeon presided over 12 days of testimony on the hearings on the complaint during which Green's two grandsons testified, and her ruling means the commission could find Green committed misconduct and refer the case to the Michigan Supreme Court for potential discipline.
Efforts to reach Green's attorney, Michael Ashcraft, were not successful.
In a written response to the commission Jan. 23, Ashcraft wrote that "Judge Green has been truthful in responding to the Commission’s questions and testifying at a hearing concerning the use of makeup. There was a single occurrence when she applied liquid foundation to the cheek of (a grandson) when he had been slapped in the face by his father. The Judge explained precisely what had occurred in her response to the very first request for comment and the explanation has remained the same since that time."
Ashcraft added that "there is no evidence in the record proving the foundational elements of child abuse and actual knowledge of child abuse."
Widgeon wrote that many of Green's denials that she knew anything about abuse, bruises or corporal punishment inflicted on the boys by her son, Gary Davis-Headd, were "directly contradicted by (the boys’) testimony.”
“There are also instances in this hearing in which Respondent either directly contradicted or gave testimony incompatible with her earlier testimony or her statements to the Commission, especially regarding her knowledge of the fact that Davis-Headd had been using corporal punishment on the boys during the time period in question and her application of makeup to bruises (on one of the boy’s) face,” Widgeon wrote.
"This was a difficult case, especially for the boys," Lynn Helland, executive director of the Judicial Tenure Commission, said Friday "I'm happy (Widgeon) credited the boys' testimony."
The commission said between July 2014 and June 2018, she "was aware that on multiple occasions her son had been abusive to his then-wife, Katy Davis-Headd, by slapping her and choking her."
Green, the complaint adds, "was aware that her son was prone to abusive behavior" and was using strong and stern punishment as well as using a belt on his two sons, the judge's two grandsons, who were under 11.
The complaint alleged that Green was made aware of the abuse by the children and that she saw marks on the face of one of the boys that he told her had been inflicted by his father.
The commission alleges that "at least one time in 2016 or 2017, the judge saw her son hit the child on his face and chest while the judge was in the kitchen of her home."
Green, according to the complaint, was aware from 2015 through 2018 that her son was under a court order not to use corporal punishment on the children. She is accused of trying to "conceal" some of the abuse of the boys by putting makeup on their bruises, according to the complaint.
The commission alleges that "on four occasions" Green saw injuries on the face of one of the boys and that the child told her they were inflicted by his father.
Green is accused of making false statements about her knowledge of the abuse to the commission when asked about it. In the judge's answer on Nov. 21, 2019, to the commission’s questions, she stated, “I was, and remain, unaware of any alleged ‘abuse’ of my grandchildren by my son,” according to the complaint.
Green's son was convicted in 2019 of two counts of second-degree felony child abuse in Wayne County Circuit Court. He was sentenced to concurrent 4- to 10-year prison terms for each conviction.
Elected in 2018 to the Circuit Court's family division, Green has served in the criminal division since 2019. She was an attorney for more than two decades. She is known for her work in reuniting parents with their children who were in foster care.
The case now goes to the nine JTC commissioners who will make a decision whether to hold more hearings on Widgeon's report or send the matter to the Michigan Supreme Court. The court can determine there was no misconduct by Green, or decide to censure, suspend or remove Green from the bench.
Judge Tracy Green found to have lied
WXYZ-TV News - Detroit
Mar 4, 2022
Wayne County Judge Tracy Green is facing sanctions after having been found to have lied in a case involving her son's abuse of her grandsons.
Wayne County judge used makeup to cover marks on grandsons left by son, report says
WXYZ-TV News - Detroit
Mar 4, 2022
DETROIT (WXYZ) — Third Circuit Court Judge Tracy Green could be one step closer to being sanctioned by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission or removed from the bench after a ruling in an ethics violations hearing.
Green put makeup on her grandsons to cover marks on the children that were left by her son, according to a retired judge from Ann Arbor who made the ruling in a case being handled by Disciplinary Counsel for the Commission.
Retired Judge Betty R. Widgeon also found that Green knew that on one occasion, her son hit one of the grandchildren so hard that he left his hand print on the child's face.
Widgeon also found that Green knew that her son used "court prohibited corporal punishment" on her grandsons and that he slapped and choked his now former wife.
Green's son, Gary Davis-Headd, is currently serving time in prison on two counts of second-degree child abuse.
In 2015, Davis-Headd was found not guilty of domestic violence, kidnapping and stalking.
And the latest in her problems with the Judicial Tenure Commission comes on the heels of Wayne County Court Judge Bruce Morrow's six-month suspension without pay. His suspension began in January.
The commission found that Morrow made inappropriate and explicit comments to two female attorneys.
Morrow officially retired from Third Circuit Court at the beginning of January, but he has filed a motion for a rehearing on his case with the commission.
A visiting judge is handling the cases that had been assigned to Morrow until Gov. Gretchen Whitmer appoints someone to fill his seat for the term that concludes at the end of 2022.
In the video player above, watch the latest in the disciplinary counsel's case against Green.
Family reeling after mom's homicide in Detroit: 'If it ain't one thing it's another'
Detroit News
March 14, 2022
Detroit — From homicide to auto theft to issues in the court system, multiple elements of the city's crime problem have landed on Anthony Perkins' doorstep, heaping difficulties and frustration on the 40-year-old unemployed ex-autoworker and his family.
In November, Perkins assumed custody of his 11-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son after their mother, Andrea Tucker, was fatally shot in the driveway of her eastside home.
Perkins, a former Chrysler employee who said he has been out of work since injuring his back seven years ago, doesn't own a vehicle. After he helped console his children to the point where they were ready to return to school, he drove them in Tucker's former 2014 Chevy Malibu.
It's the same car Tucker used to drop the kids off at school the morning of Nov. 17, before she returned home to what prosecutors say was an ambush by Jarren Cox, the 19-year-old son of Tucker's ex-boyfriend, David Hammond.
As Perkins tries to help his kids resume their daily routine in the wake of the killing, he said he's been hobbled by another crime: Last week, the silver Malibu was stolen from the street in front of his eastside house.
Perkins, who dated Tucker for several years, said he's scrambling every day to get the kids to and from school.
"I looked out the window and the car was just gone," said Tucker, who lives near Harper and Interstate 94, about five miles from the schools his children attend, University Preparatory Academy middle and high schools.
"I'm leaning on friends and family for rides," he said. "It's a bunch of things at once. It's hard, man."
Perkins' mother Darselena Perkins, who lives in Las Vegas but flew to Detroit to help out for a few weeks after the killing, said the stolen car has exacerbated the family's plight.
"The kids are struggling," she said. "They're just now trying to get into normal activities, back in school, into therapy — and then the car gets stolen.
"If it ain't one thing, it's another."
As of Friday, there had been 1,307 auto thefts reported in Detroit in 2022, a 26% increase over the same period in 2021, according to Detroit Police Department statistics. There were 42 homicides year-to-date in 2022, down from 56 during the same period last year.
Anthony Perkins, Darselena Perkins and other relatives say they absorbed another gut-punch recently when they learned that a judge on March 1 had reduced the bond of Hammond, Tucker's 45-year-old ex-boyfriend who was named by police as a person of interest in her death immediately after the shooting.
A citizen's tip led to Hammond's arrest on Nov. 18, a day after his name and picture were released by police, but he has not been charged in connection with Tucker's killing. Detroit police officials declined to discuss the case because they said Hammond is still under investigation.
Hammond's attorney, Christopher Sinclair, declined to comment.
Although he wasn't charged in connection with Tucker's killing, Hammond has been in the Wayne County Jail since his arrest in November on charges that he allegedly assaulted Tucker and firebombed her house three years ago and then violated a personal protection order.
Hammond was charged in October 2020 with aggravated domestic violence, felonious assault, second-degree arson and first-degree home invasion in connection with the Sept. 25, 2019, incident.
Despite Hammond's previous convictions for armed robbery and felony drug possession, 36th District Judge Millicent Sherman released him on his own recognizance on Oct. 23, 2020.
The case languished in the court system for months, in part because of COVID-related delays, until a preliminary examination was held Nov. 3, 2021, before 36th District Judge Kenneth King, who bound the case over for trial in Wayne Circuit Court.
At the hearing, King also continued Hammond's bond conditions. The judge told The Detroit News in November he allowed the continuation because Hammond hadn't violated his bond and there were no objections by prosecutors or police.
On Nov. 12, nine days after Hammond's personal bond was continued, a Detroit police detective asked an assistant Wayne County prosecutor to file a petition requesting that Wayne Circuit Judge Gregory Bill rescind Hammond's bond.
The request was based on several doorbell videos Tucker had provided to the detective that showed a man in her yard, prosecutors said. Although the man's face couldn't be identified in the video, Tucker insisted it was Hammond, according to prosecutors and police.
Officials at the Prosecutor's Office said the assistant prosecutor didn't feel there was enough evidence to ask a judge to rescind Hammond's bond. But the day after The News reported that the detective's request for a petition had been denied, prosecutors filed the petition based on the same evidence they had rejected earlier.
During a Nov. 19 emergency hearing, two days after Tucker's was gunned down, Bill ruled the evidence was sufficient to revoke Hammond's bond and ordered him remanded to the Wayne County Jail.
On March 1, Wayne Circuit Judge Tracy Green, who was assigned the case in December, reduced Hammond's bond to $100,000/10%. According to Wayne County Jail online records, Hammond was still incarcerated Monday.
Assistant Wayne County Prosecutor Maria Miller said in an email that her office objected to Green's decision to lower Hammond's bond.
“We were vehemently and completely opposed to a reduction in bond," Miller said. (Assistant Prosecutor) Trish Gerard did an excellent job representing our position, (but) unfortunately Judge Green lowered the defendant’s bond in this serious felony case.”
Green did not return a phone call seeking comment. Last week, a retired judge hearing evidence in a Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission investigation ruled Green violated Michigan court rules and the state's rules of professional conduct by knowingly concealing evidence of the abuse of her grandsons and making false statements about her knowledge of that abuse. Those were two of three allegations levied against her, and the investigation by the agency is ongoing.
Darselena Perkins said the judge's decision to lower Hammond's bond was "hurtful."
"The system is so crazy," she said. "You had (Detroit Police Chief James White) going on the news saying 'the system failed Andrea.' Well, guess what? The system failed her again. How could the judge lower this man's bond like that? How do you tell these children to trust the system that keeps failing their mother?"
Hammond's son, Cox, who lived in Wixom, faces first-degree murder and witness intimidation charges. In a press release announcing the Nov. 25 charges, Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said: “The evidence in this case will show that this defendant is the actual shooter of Ms. Tucker. That being said, this case is still under investigation."
In addition to representing Hammond on the domestic violence, assault and arson charges, Sinclair also is the attorney for Cox in the murder case.
"The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office believes that the representation of these two defendants by the same attorney creates a conflict of interest," Miller said. "We will be addressing this issue in court."
Anthony Perkins said his children were surprised when they learned Cox was Hammond's son.
"When my son found out (Hammond) had a son he was shocked," Perkins said. "The whole time, (Hammond) told them he had had a son, but that he had died."
Darselena Perkins said the family is trying to help the children cope with their mother's loss while bracing for more pain.
"We're planning for the oldest one's birthday; his 16th birthday is coming up, and we want to have something special to try to take his mind off everything," she said.
"But it's going to be especially hard when Mother's Day rolls around soon," she said. "The kids seem to have lost hope and faith. You try to tell them to trust the system, that it'll all work out. But they're having a hard time hearing it."
Backlog of complaints against Michigan judges stacks up, risking 'justice denied'
The Detroit News
March 15, 2022
Detroit — A backlog of cases alleging misconduct by Michigan judges started stacking up in 2017 and has gotten worse every year since.
So Michigan's Judicial Tenure Commission — which investigates complaints against the state's 1,100-plus active judges, not including those on the federal bench — is asking for more money to hire additional staff to help ease that backlog.
Five years ago, the commission had four full investigations more than a year old, and none more than three years old. In 2021, the commission had 37 investigations more than a year old, and five of them more than three years old.
Lynn Helland, executive director of Michigan's Judicial Tenure Commission, appeared earlier this month before a state Senate subcommittee to ask for an additional $566,000 in next year's budget — most of it a one-time appropriation to hire contract attorneys to help cut down the caseload. But this week Helland upped the request to $1.5 million for even more staff to eliminate the backlog of 39 open cases through 2021.
Lawmakers showed sympathy and support for the request during the hearing. But funding is not necessarily ensured since budget negotiations between the Republican-controlled Legislature and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer are often contentious and complicated, especially in an election year.
Since 2020, four Michigan judges have been publicly named or disciplined for violations, including inappropriate behavior and comments in court; failure to disclose relationships with those appearing before the judge; misusing public funds; conducting court without a record of proceedings; and allegedly covering up physical abuse of a family member.
But dozens of investigations of other unnamed judges are delayed, some for years. The commission works essentially in secret during its preliminary investigations of judges and only makes a public announcement if it issues a formal complaint against a judge.
"It's not as though the Michigan judiciary is going crazy, because that's not what's happening," Helland told The Detroit News. "The great majority of judges, we never get a legitimate complaint about them at all."
While the commission receives hundreds of requests for investigations per year, the public only learns a judge's identity and alleged misdeeds when the commission files a public complaint. In 2020, the commission received about 440 requests for investigation, covering 464 judges, according to its annual report.
About half of its complaints seek a review of the underlying case. Since that is the work of an appeals court, those complaints are dismissed "unless they also showed evidence of judicial misconduct," the report read.
Historically, Helland said, close to 95% of complaints have no substance and could be closed with minimal work, he said. But for reasons Helland and the staff struggle to understand, in 2015, the complaints that led to full investigations became more complex. Investigations began to take more time, he said.
When the staff sees a complaint might have substance, it forwards that complaint to the commission "and the commission decides: Are we going to pursue this or not?" Helland explained.
If so, the commission investigates and recommends discipline, if appropriate. The Michigan Supreme Court makes the final decision on whether a judge should be disciplined and what the punishment should be.
"Nobody here is able to say why we are seeing more complaints that led to that kind of Pandora's box of an investigation," Helland said. "But for whatever reason, we started seeing more of them. Those are the cases that take all the time."
When cases are not investigated in a timely fashion, people lose trust in the system, said Susan Fortney, director of Texas A&M University School of Law's Program for the Advancement of Legal Ethics.
"The concern is, if this is serious enough misconduct to investigate, and the person's continuing to sit without there being any consequences, then that becomes a form of justice denied," Fortney said. "It creates questions in terms of the integrity of the legal process."
'What would it take?'
When Helland appeared before the Senate subcommittee this month, he requested what he called a modest amount in state funding: A permanent increase of $192,000 a year to hire a staff paralegal and $374,000 in one-time spending to hire three contract attorneys.
If the Legislature approves the request and it is signed into law, the funding would not eliminate the backlog, but cut into it, he said. To do that would cost more — nearly three times more, he believes.
Helland testified at the March 9 meeting of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee for Corrections and Judiciary. After Helland explained the problem, Sen. Jim Runestad, R-White Lake, noted the great power judges hold.
"They have the power of absolute control. They can take your kids. They can take your money. They can take your home. They can take your property. They can take your freedom," Runestad said. "They can take every single thing from you, and making sure that the judiciary is run appropriately is so critical."
Then Runestad asked: "What would it take to hire more contract attorneys so we can clear this backlog out?"
That question, according to Helland, is "unheard of" in his dealings with the Legislature, which he admits have been minimal since his hiring in 2017.
Helland told the committee that he didn't want to lose credibility by asking for too much money, so he made a modest request. He said seven attorneys could probably clear the backlog, and that he would "be happy to try to do a more careful crunch" on the numbers.
This week, Helland put numbers to the larger request: $400,000 per year in new funding for one attorney and one paralegal, and $1.1 million for seven contract attorneys for the backlog, he told The News.
Sen. Adam Hollier, D-Detroit, sits on the subcommittee with Runestad and Chair Sen. John Bizon, R-Battle Creek.
"Our courts are underfunded by a huge margin," said Hollier, 36. "We've never seemed to find the money to invest in them under Republican control. And I don't say that flippantly — Republicans have controlled the state Senate every day I've been alive."
Republicans have held the Senate since February 1984.
Hollier said he did not perceive in Runestad's remarks the sea change in attitudes that Helland did. He said he would believe it when he sees it.
"A change would be adding the money," Hollier said. "I haven't seen that."
'Delays are ... unacceptable'
In 2019, the Michigan Supreme Court lent money from its own budget to help the commission work through part of its backlog, Helland testified. The Supreme Court "devoted $100,000 from its own budget" to allow the commission to hire contract help, State Court Administrator Tom Boyd said.
“The key concern from our perspective continues to be that the Judicial Tenure Commission is falling further and further behind because staffing levels have not kept up with the number and complexity of investigations," Boyd said in a statement.
"For the public to maintain trust and confidence in their judiciary, allegations of improper conduct must be investigated and addressed as quickly as possible. Delays that stretch from months into years are unacceptable."
Time does factor into the commission's triage process of deciding what should be investigated immediately — and what merits investigation, but can wait. Ultimately, behavior and ethical implications outweigh how long a complaint hasn't been investigated.
"Time is a big deal in the triage," Helland said. "But the bigger deal is, what is the nature of any ongoing harm? And where is that harm the greatest?"
Judicial misconduct complaints
Only four of the Judicial Tenure Commission's 2020 cases are listed by name. They represent three public complaints filed in 2020 and one from 2019.
• Wayne County Circuit Judge Bruce Morrow was accused of speaking in a sexually inappropriate manner with attorneys in his courtroom in a public complaint filed in August 2020.
Among the many remarks flagged for the commission was Morrow's response after hearing testimony that a couple had sex differently because the man did not want to hurt the victim, who was pregnant, and cause a miscarriage.
Morrow, the complaint said, took issue with that.
"Does he think his (d---) is so big that he would hurt that baby?" the judge allegedly asked.
In January, a year and a half later after the complaint was publicized, the Michigan Supreme Court suspended Morrow for six months without pay. The commission had recommended a yearlong suspension.
• In a public complaint filed in November 2020, Wayne County Circuit Judge Tracy Green was accused of knowing that her grandchildren were allegedly physically abused by her son. Not only did Green allegedly not report the abuse, she covered it up and lied about it, the commission alleged.
Green, according to the complaint, was aware from 2015 through 2018 that her son was under a court order not to use corporal punishment on the children. The judge was accused of trying to "conceal" some of the abuse of the boys by putting makeup on their bruises, according to the complaint.
Earlier in March, a special master or fact-finder appointed by the commission to the Green case issued a 27-page report.
Retired Judge Betty Widgeon, the fact finder, found that Green violated Michigan court rules and the state's rules of professional conduct by knowingly concealing evidence of the abuse of her grandsons and making false statements about her knowledge of that abuse.
But Widgeon also found that the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission did not prove a third complaint, that Green knowingly made false statements to the commission.
Helland said that the commission will hear from "both sides" of the Green case on June 13. He said he "expects" a ruling by its July 18 meeting.
If the matter is forwarded to the Michigan Supreme Court, the court can determine there was no misconduct by Green or decide to censure, suspend or remove Green from the bench.
• Judge Kahlilia Davis of 36th District Court in Detroit was accused of conducting court without a record of proceedings. The commission filed its public complaint in March 2020.
Davis, according to the complaint, "disconnected, damaged, disabled, did not activate" recording equipment when she presided over cases in January and February 2019.
The complaint alleged that the judge presided over 29 cases during that period, knowing that the proceedings were not being recorded and that there was no court reporter present.
Due to the allegations, the Michigan Supreme Court gave Davis an "interim" suspension in June 2020, with pay, "until further order of this court." Her case is still pending.
• Judge Byron Konschuh of 40th Circuit Court in Lapeer County was accused of misusing public funds as both a judge and Lapeer County prosecutor; of failing to disclose personal relationships — some positive, some negative — with people appearing before him in court; and of "misrepresenting the truth" about the misspent money to Michigan State Police in open court and to the commission itself.
In August 2020, the commission recommended that the Michigan Supreme Court remove Konschuh from the bench. Konschuh went on to lose his November 2020 re-election bid.
In June 2021, the Supreme Court banned Konschuh from the bench for six years — an order that takes effect if he ever gets appointed or elected to judicial office again.
Another eight cases in 2020 were closed with "letters of caution" to the judges. But those names, allegations and findings are not released publicly.
Other stories that go untold, Helland said, are the cases where a complaint is investigated and the judge resigns before a public complaint is filed.
In 3% of the commission's investigations in 2020, a judge retired or resigned. Those, too, are considered dismissed cases and remain confidential.
"It's a great outcome," said Helland of a resignation prior to a public complaint. "But it's all hidden from public view."
Fortney, the legal ethics scholar, said states should "re-examine those rules" that allow a judge to resign or retire and the case remains private.
"If people think they can take a back door out and escape scrutiny, they will," Fortney said.
Notice Of Hearing - Oral Arguments - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
March 16, 2022
Disciplinary Counsel's Brief In Support Of And In Opposition To Master's Findings Of Fact And Conclusions Of Law And Disciplinary Analysis - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
April 15, 2022
Respondent Judge Tracy Green's Objections To Report Of Master - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
April 15, 2022
Judicial Tenure Commission staff wants Wayne Co. judge tossed off bench
The Detroit News
April 18, 2022
Staff at the watchdog agency that polices Michigan judges wants a Wayne County Circuit Court judge removed from the bench after investigating her actions in connection with a child abuse case against her son.
"In this case, (Judge Tracy Green) concealed evidence that her son abused her grandsons," Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission staff members Lynn Helland and Lora Weingarden wrote. "She thereby violated the criminal law by tampering with evidence of a crime. She lied about having done that, and told multiple related lies in court, to the media, during the Commission’s investigation, and during the hearing before the Master.
"Her conduct was also selfish in that she was trying to save face in supporting her abusive son at the expense of her grandsons, while she ran for judge in 2018 on the platform that she was a child and family welfare advocate."
Green's attorney, Michael Ashcraft, told The Detroit News Monday that neither he nor the judge can comment on the case outside of legal filings.
In February, retired Ann Arbor trial Judge Betty Widgeon, appointed special master by the commission, determined that Green violated Michigan court rules and the state's rules of professional conduct by knowingly concealing evidence of the abuse of her grandsons and making false statements about her knowledge of that abuse.
Widgeon found that the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission did not prove a third complaint, that Green's false statements to the commission were intentional.
Helland, who is executive director of the commission, and Weingarden, a staff attorney, pushed back against that finding, arguing there is ample evidence that Green knew of the abuse and that "her omissions, denials, and misrepresentations were deliberate."
Green's son was convicted in 2019 of two counts of second-degree felony child abuse in Wayne County Circuit Court. He was sentenced to concurrent 4- to 10-year prison terms for each conviction. The commission lodged a complaint against Green in November of 2020.
Ashcraft in a separate filing to the commission wrote that Green's statements throughout the investigation are not inconsistent.
"Simply stated, Judge Green was never aware of any abuse of her grandsons at the hand of their father, was aware of past spankings, was unaware of any corporal punishment following the slap to the cheek of Gary, Jr., and had no recall of any specific occasion or situation concerning the boys being spanked."
He pointed out that Helland and Weingarden conducted the investigation of Green and also served as prosecutors for the commission, a violation of Green's "right to due process."
He also said Weingarden, when she was a Wayne County assistant prosecuting attorney, dismissed a case against a family member of Green who was a juvenile but had been charged in adult court. She was accused of giving Green’s relative favorable treatment and that complaint drew media coverage, Ashcraft wrote, although he added that “Ms. Weingarden correctly decided to dismiss the case in adult felony court. She never consulted Judge Green, who was then an attorney, nor did she even know Judge Green.”
Regardless, that accusation “created a clear conflict of interest in Ms. Weingarden either investigating or prosecuting in this case. Judge Green’s case could have easily been reassigned to another staff investigator/staff attorney in the Commission’s office.”
Ashcraft also wrote that Judicial Tenure Commission conducted a search of Green's phone without properly obtaining a warrant and that the judge had a right to and requested in-person hearings, while Widgeon held virtual hearings.
Ashcraft asked the commission to dismiss the two counts upheld by Widgeon — that Green violated Michigan court rules and the state's rules of professional conduct by knowingly concealing evidence and making false statements.
"In the event the Commission concludes otherwise, at a minimum, the denial of Judge Green’s constitutional rights and the errors of the appointed Master entitles the Judge to a re-hearing," Ashcraft wrote..
Green, according to the complaint, was aware from 2015 through 2018 that her son was under a court order not to use corporal punishment on his two sons. She is accused of trying to "conceal" some of the abuse of the boys by putting makeup on their bruises, according to the complaint.
The commission alleges that "on four occasions" Green saw injuries on the face of one of the boys and that the child told her they were inflicted by his father.
In her answer on Nov. 21, 2019, to the commission’s questions, she stated, “I was, and remain, unaware of any alleged ‘abuse’ of my grandchildren by my son,” according to the complaint.
Widgeon found that many of Green's denials that she knew anything about abuse, bruises or corporal punishment inflicted on the boys by Davis-Headd, were "directly contradicted by (the boys’) testimony.”
The case now goes to the nine JTC commissioners who will make a decision whether to hold more hearings on Widgeon's report or send the matter to the Michigan Supreme Court. The court can determine there was no misconduct by Green, or decide to censure, suspend or remove Green from the bench.
Elected in 2018 to the Circuit Court's family division, Green has served in the criminal division since 2019. She was an attorney for more than two decades. She is known for her work in reuniting parents with their children who were in foster care.
Disciplinary Counsel's Answer To Respondent's Objections To Master's Report - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
April 29, 2022
Respondent, Judge Tracy Green's Response To Disciplinary Counsels' Brief In Support Of And In Opposition To Master's Findings Of Fact and Conclusions Of Law, And Disciplinary Analysis - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission
April 29, 2022
Findings Of Commission Hearing - Judge Tracy Green Complaint No. 103
Judicial Tenure Commission
Jun 13, 2022
No comments:
Post a Comment