The lawsuit states Judge Kenneth King violated the teen's constitutional rights when he detained her after she fell asleep in his courtroom.

The teen girl without a permanent home who was forced to don jail garb, wear handcuffs and ask for mercy after falling asleep in a courtroom is suing the Detroit judge who had her taken into custody.

Eva Goodman, 15, and her mother filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Michigan against 36th District Judge Kenneth King. They allege he violated the teen’s civil rights, arguing King acted outside the scope of his judicial authority when he detained her, yelled at her and threatened her with jail time.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
    3254·
    4 months ago

    That judge should clearly have been removed from the bench, instead of just being asked to attend some sort of behavior class with pay. The usual slap on the wrist with a feather for the privileged.
    He clearly lacks a sense of scope, and limitation to his powers. And apparently has extreme views on punishment for nothing burgers that aren’t even illegal. He also has a complete lack of empathy and understanding how strongly punishment can influence a person, especially a young person, and especially a person being punished harshly despite doing no harm.
    He is completely unfit to be a judge.

    I hope the girl wins her lawsuit, and the judge will receive some true punishment through that.

    • forrcaho@lemmy.world
      2431·
      4 months ago

      … and his past cases need to be reviewed. Is someone serving 10x the usual jail sentence for some infraction because of this judge? Probably.

      • Poayjay@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1271·
        4 months ago

        Whenever I hear about a shitty judge, DA, or cop that’s where my mind jumps immediately. Once one of these people have their judgment or integrity called into question, every case they had any involvement in should also be questioned.

        • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
          7·
          4 months ago

          Fuck that would be nice to have a review department who’s sole purpose is to go over the past history once something is triggered like this. Could even supply it by not buying so many hand-me-downs from the military to further fuel the MIC (military industrial complex), which I’ve never once heard a conservative discussion bringing up the cost/effectiveness of a tank in a small county. I guess a better tag-line would’ve been “Funds for Justice” during the protests.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
          391·
          4 months ago

          that doesn’t change much. black cops also can be racist against black people. they’re part of a racist structure.

        • zerog_bandit@lemmy.world
          153·
          4 months ago

          Some of the most virulently racist people I’ve met have been African American. Even against other African Americans.

          • LustyArgonian@lemmy.worldEnglish
            521·
            4 months ago

            This is a stupid comment to make. Yes, black people can be racist against black people. No, they are not “the most racist.” Look at Elon Musk and his family’s emerald mines. THAT’S the most racist people we know - the prison owners, the people destabilizing Africa and other countries, the people enslaving other races for profit. Just because that racism is socially acceptable here because it affords those people luxury, doesn’t make them “less racist.” You just don’t pick up on it because you’re used to it.

  • einlander@lemmy.world
    2122·
    4 months ago

    She was on a field trip and not scheduled to be in court. He just reached out into the crowd and just sent her to jail because his feelings were hurt.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      1175·
      4 months ago

      Judges are always soft bitches when people don’t treat them better than the average person for wearing fucking bathrobes in public.

      Guess what judges, you’re a naked loser underneath those robes, just like the rest of us, you sad soft pieces of shit.

  • Artemis@lemmy.ml
    192·
    4 months ago

    This girl is also temporarily homeless, which is why she was so tired. Adds a whole extra level to this…

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    183·
    4 months ago

    From one of the linked articles:

    “Eva Goodman, 15, attended King’s court earlier this week with a nonprofit on a field trip.”

    I’m guessing that non-profit is done exposing kids to courtrooms now even as simple observers.

  • MiltownClowns@lemmy.world
    137·
    4 months ago

    If that judge is so concerned about her sleep then he can buy her a house. She’ll sleep much better having a bedroom.

      • daq@lemmy.sdf.org
        31·
        4 months ago

        You mean we will, right? I’m sure he’s protected the same way cops are so taxes will be used to pay for judge’s mistakes while he continues to be a piece of shit without any repercussions.

        • AFaithfulNihilist@lemmy.world
          72·
          4 months ago

          If you don’t like paying for the mistakes of law enforcement, legislate punishment on law enforcement that makes mistakes!

          When it’s a judge you have to vote them out (usually), and since they were voted in you have to punish the taxpayer for making such a boneheaded mistake.

          It’s a taxpayer votes in this chuckle fucker again and maybe we need to punish them that much harder.

          The government has the money to spare otherwise they would stop fucking up so goddamn always.

          • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
            43·
            4 months ago

            Yep. Settlement payouts need to go through the roof until the apathetic or unaware take notice of what they are doing to their tax bill. It’s the US after all, so impacting peoples’ money is of course the only way we’ll get any reform.

              • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
                12·
                4 months ago

                One of those things has a chance of happening, the other does not. In theory I agree with you. In the case of police, QI will prevent that most of the time for civil suits. In the case of judges, they are judges…

    • Cataphract@lemmy.ml
      11·
      4 months ago

      But he already offered to “Mentor” her personally while being interviewed after the incident, what more do you want from this guy?! /s

  • Suavevillain@lemmy.world
    1201·
    4 months ago

    I’m glad she is suing him. It was insane how he doubled down on his actions. There are too many Judges who either racist or insane assholes without any empathy.

    • breetai@lemmy.world
      2·
      4 months ago

      Judges have immunity. So the lawsuit won’t go anywhere.

      It’s amazing how immunity people in power have

      • piecat@lemmy.world
        2·
        4 months ago

        Judges have immunity when acting in their official duties.

        If court were in session, that could be a real possibility. But it wasn’t, the girl was there for a fieldtrip.

        Kinda like police immunity. They can shoot you and your dog, but if they aren’t on duty, they don’t have that qualified immunity.

  • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
    732·
    4 months ago

    Those officers should be fired, too. I do security for a living, and I would 100% have not detained her.

    • Asherah@lemmy.world
      263·
      4 months ago

      You do security, you’re not a cop. Totally different mindset, don’t compare yourself to pigs.

    • Woht24@lemmy.world
      8·
      4 months ago

      And you would’ve 100% lost your job in the lovely free market of the US. I’m not sure what the laws surrounding ‘contempt’ are in the US, but I’d guess that’s what he’s charged her with and it’s a pretty grey area, so you as a court room bailiff, are not going to be ‘investigating’ and taking moral stands at work, she likely was the 10th person they’ve arrested and half of them don’t even know why the were radioed to come in and ‘assist with an arrest’

      The judge is a straight cunt though

        • Woht24@lemmy.world
          11·
          4 months ago

          Well yeah you think you would as you sit there on you moral high horse but as I said, half of them probably don’t even know why she’s being arrested. You come into a room and see her flailing around, fighting your colleagues and you’re going to start asking questions and making phone calls?

          Doubt it.

          • VelvetStorm@lemmy.world
            1·
            4 months ago

            Even in-between cases, there are bailiffs in the courtroom, so at least a 1 if them knew she did nothing. But go ahead and continue talking about stuff you clearly don’t know about.

            • Woht24@lemmy.world
              11·
              4 months ago

              I don’t think that comment had the impact you thought it did.

              Good luck to you with your abysmal employment laws!

  • tetrachromacy@lemmy.world
    68·
    4 months ago

    This a-hole judge should be removed from the bench and fired for this. Or at least forced to undergo the same treatment.

    Has this judge even been to court before? If you’re not there to sue or be sued(or tried) or to watch someone for a specific reason, then court is boring as hell. Instead of punishing someone who fell asleep, congratulate those who stayed awake - that’s far more worthy of notice.

  • Ellia Plissken@lemm.eeEnglish
    38·
    4 months ago

    it’s time for judges to get a fucking wakeup call. the amount of authority they have in a courtroom feels like the leftover vestiges of the English monarchy that are supposed to technically exist but not actually be exercised

    • interdimensionalmeme@lemmy.ml
      10·
      4 months ago

      They need to be reminded that their authority is a thinly veiled concession. We make toward public order and if they forget and start to think it’s about them and “their honour” then they need to feel the savage fury commensurate with unseen suffering they hand out on the daily.

      • unrelatedkeg@lemmy.sdf.org
        3·
        4 months ago

        It is about them and their honour.

        However, their honour isn’t how they’re percieved and treated by others, it’s how they themselves act. They’re the first ones who should show honour and dignity towards their defendants, clerks, etc.

        Angry fits like this one just show the judge got corrupted by power and should either be given time to reflect or disbarred.

    • boyi@lemmy.sdf.org
      51·
      4 months ago

      Not sure this applies here. The judge is black. Anyway, still possible though.

      • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝English
        5·
        4 months ago

        Black people can be racist toward black people as well.

        Though I think this was just a standard power trip, and the unhoused black girl was just an appealing defenseless target unlike the weirdo-in-chief.

      • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
        1·
        4 months ago

        Could be overcompensating to avoid looking like he was playing favorites with his own race. Which is still racism, just different motivation for it.

        Hope he loses the suit.