A Detroit judge said he is immune from lawsuits after lashing out at a teenager who fell asleep in court during a field trip.
Judge Kenneth King filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the teen’s mother on Monday, alleging that he was acting in his official judicial capacity when he handcuffed Eva Goodman, 15, and ordered her to wear prison clothes after who fell asleep during a hike in August.
Goodman’s mother argued that he violated the teenager’s constitutional rights to unreasonable search and seizure, to be detained without due process, to be forced to present evidence against herself, to not have the opportunity to hire a lawyer their choice and to receive protection from “unusual punishment.”
But King claimed in his filing Monday that although he had been speaking to the students at the time, he was still acting in his judicial capacity at the time of his interactions and is therefore entitled to immunity. Detroit Free Press reports.
His lawyer cited case law establishing that judges are immune in civil cases, even when they act by mistake, with malice or in excess of their authority.
Judge Kenneth King filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the mother of a teenage girl on Monday, arguing that she was acting in her official judicial capacity and therefore immune from civil litigation.
“We believe he is protected by being a judge and acting as a judge, regardless of how people may perceive what he did,” Todd Perkins, King’s attorney, told the Free Press.
“At the end of the day, he is a judge.”
The judge, who has since been demoted to traffic court, was caught on the court’s live feed raising his voice at Goodman and saying, “If you fall asleep in my courtroom one more time, I’ll put you in the back, right?” understood?”.
Judge King then ordered the teen to be handcuffed and threatened her with juvenile detention in front of the tour group, saying, “I’m going to sleep tonight while you’re sitting in the juvenile detention facility.”
He told the group: “One thing you will learn about my courtroom is that I am not a toy, I am not to be played with.”
She was eventually taken away and brought back to the courtroom two hours later in prison garb, her family said.
In the end, King finally had the teen’s classmates raise their hands to determine whether he should let her go or send her to jail, the Free Press reports.
Eva Goodman, 15, was on a field trip to a Detroit courthouse in August when she fell asleep.
King then ordered the teen to be handcuffed and threatened her with juvenile detention in front of the field trip group.
But Goodman’s mother, Latoreya Till, later explained that the teenager was probably tired because her family had no permanent place to live and perhaps had become disengaged because the homicide case being discussed led her to relive an old trauma. .
He added: “Currently we have to go from one place to another because we have no permanent address.” And so, on that particular night, we were a little late. And normally, when she goes to work, she’s up and planting trees or doing physical activity.’
The judge later told WXYZ-TV: “That’s not something that normally happens, but I felt compelled to do it because I didn’t like the boy’s attitude… I haven’t been disrespected like that in a long time.” .
He also told the outlet that he wasn’t realistically going to put her in any juvenile detention center, saying he wouldn’t want to do that to a kid on a field trip, but he easily could have.
King argued in his motion Monday that the court is in session whenever he is in the courtroom.
“In plaintiff’s opinion, the judge would have no ability to direct staff or control the functions of the court without the court being directly in session,” which fails to recognize what judicial functions are, the motion says, according to the Free Press.
“Plaintiff appears to allege that during a recess period a judge loses all authority over a courtroom and is somehow stripped of his judicial authority.”
The girl’s mother filed a lawsuit against the judge, alleging that he violated her daughter’s constitutional rights.
He further argued that even Till’s complaint shows that the court was in session.
“Plaintiff’s trip was to visit a sitting judge to attend a court session,” the motion said. according to Law and Crime.
He goes on to argue that Till cannot say that Goodman fell asleep during the official proceedings, while saying that King’s response was not part of his official duties.
“It is quite paradoxical that the plaintiff can allege that it was the nature of the court session that caused her estrangement and then, on the other hand, argue that the defendant King was somehow divorced from his official duties and not acting in his official capacity “. he says, and then calls the proposition the “antithesis of justice.”
But Goodman’s family has argued that King’s plan “was to orchestrate his own version of Scared Straight and broadcast it to social media.”
‘Plaintiff has further alleged that the judge planned a sham trial, as evidenced by the fact that there was no case number, no court record, no case or controversy, and that (Goodman) did not hire Judge King in his official capacity. and the judge was personally motivated to teach the child a lesson when he knew he lacked the authority to punish the child,’ the family wrote on their own initiative urging the judge not to grant the motion to dismiss.
“Further, all material actions occurred when the court was not in session.”
The filing goes on to note that Goodman ‘was not a party to the litigation and did not employ the judge or his officials in any judicial capacity.
“I was invited to a conference in which the speaker was the judge,” she says.
A hearing on the motion is scheduled for January.