DETROIT (AP) — A teenager on a field trip to see a Detroit court ended up in jail clothes and handcuffs because a judge said he didn't like her attitude.
Judge Kenneth King even asked other kids in the courtroom Tuesday whether the 16-year-old girl should be taken to juvenile detention, WXYZ-TV reported.
King, who works at 36th District Court, defended his actions.
“I wanted this to look and feel very real to her, even though there’s probably no real chance of me putting her in jail. That was my own version of ‘Scared Straight,’” King said, referring to a documentary about teen offenders in New Jersey.
The teen was seeing King's court as part of a visit organized by The Greening of Detroit, a nonprofit environmental group. During the visit, King noticed the girl falling asleep, WXYZ reported.
“You fall asleep in my courtroom one more time, I’m gonna put you in back, understood?” the judge said, according to video of his remarks.
King then had the girl change into jail clothes and wear handcuffs.
"It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me,” the judge told WXYZ. “I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is and how you are to conduct yourself inside of a courtroom.”
King also threatened her with time in juvenile detention before releasing her.
“I’ll do whatever needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure that they don’t end up in front of me,” the judge said.
The Greening of Detroit released a statement, saying the “young lady was traumatized.”
“Although the judge was trying to teach a lesson of respect, his methods were unacceptable,” chairperson Marissa Ebersole Wood said. “The group of students should have been simply asked to leave the courtroom if he thought they were disrespectful.”
Judge Aliyah Sabree, who has the No. 2 leadership post at the court, released a statement Wednesday night, saying King's conduct “does not reflect the standards we uphold at 36th District Court.”
“I am committed to addressing this matter with the utmost diligence,” Sabree said.
There was no immediate response to a message from The Associated Press seeking comment from King.
“There were so many other ways in which to have helped that young girl learn,” said Larry Dubin, a professor at the University of Detroit Mercy law school.
King told WXYZ that he spoke to the girl's parents and offered to be a mentor.
FILE - Judge Kenneth King listens during a probable-cause hearing, April 2, 2015, in Detroit. . (Todd McInturf /Detroit News via AP)
FILE - The 36th District Court building is shown in Detroit, March 19, 2010. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)
NEW YORK (AP) — Disgraced ex-movie mogul Harvey Weinstein faces mounting legal and health troubles some seven years after scores of women came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against him, helping launch the global #MeToo movement.
On Thursday, he was indicted on additional sex crimes charges in New York ahead of a retrial this fall. The grand jury decision remains sealed until he is formally arraigned in court.
Weinstein has maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Meanwhile, the 72-year-old remains hospitalized following emergency heart surgery — just the latest in an assortment of medical ailments that have cropped up while in custody.
Here’s a recap of where things stand:
In April, New York's highest court overturned Weinstein’s 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges, ruling that the trial judge had unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations from other women that were not part of the case.
A new trial was ordered and the tentative start date is Nov. 12.
One of the two accusers in that case has said she is prepared to testify against Weinstein again, but it remains to be seen if the other accuser will also take the stand once more.
Weinstein had been sentenced to 23 years in prison for that conviction.
Earlier this month, prosecutors disclosed that a Manhattan grand jury had reviewed evidence of up to three additional allegations against Weinstein.
They include alleged sexual assaults at the Tribeca Grand Hotel, now known as the Roxy Hotel, and in a Lower Manhattan residential building between late 2005 and mid-2006, and an alleged sexual assault at a Tribeca hotel in May 2016.
It is unclear when Weinstein will be formally charged on those allegations, given his current health condition. The next court hearing ahead of the retrial is slated for Sept. 18.
It is also unclear how the additional allegations will factor in the retrial. Prosecutors want to include the new charges in the retrial, but Weinstein’s lawyers oppose that, saying it should be a separate case.
In 2022, Weinstein was found guilty of rape, forced oral copulation and another sexual misconduct count after a one-month trial in Los Angeles. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison.
During the trial, a woman testified that Weinstein appeared uninvited at her hotel room during the LA Italia Film Festival in 2013 and that Weinstein became sexually aggressive after she let him in.
Weinstein’s lawyers appealed the conviction in June, arguing the trial judge wrongly excluded evidence that the Italian model and actor had a sexual relationship with the film festival director at the time of the alleged attack.
Britain’s Crown Prosecution Service announced Sept. 5 that it had decided to drop two charges of indecent assault against Weinstein because there was “no longer a realistic prospect of conviction.’’
In 2022, the agency authorized London’s Metropolitan Police Service to file the charges against Weinstein over an alleged incident that occurred in London in 1996. The victim was in her 50s at the time of the announcement.
Weinstein also faces several lawsuits brought by women accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Among the latest is one from actor Julia Ormond, who starred opposite Brad Pitt in “Legends of the Fall” and Harrison Ford in “Sabrina.” She filed the lawsuit last year in New York accusing Weinstein of sexually assaulting her in 1995 and then hindering her career.
The majority of lawsuits against Weinstein were brought to a close through a 2021 settlement as part of the bankruptcy of his former film company, The Weinstein Co. The agreement included a victims’ fund of about $17 million for some 40 women who sued him.
Weinstein’s lawyers have regularly raised concerns about his worsening health since being taken into custody following his 2020 conviction.
During his appearances in Manhattan court, he’s regularly transported in a wheelchair and his lawyers say he suffers from macular degeneration and diabetes that’s worsened due to the poor jailhouse diet.
Weinstein’s pericardiocentesis surgery last week was to drain fluid around his heart. His lawyers say his medical regimen causes him to retain water and that he must be constantly monitored to ensure the fluid buildup isn’t deadly.
A judge has granted his request to remain at Manhattan’s Bellevue Hospital indefinitely instead of being transferred back to the infirmary ward at the city’s notorious Rikers Island jail complex.
Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges
A look at Harvey Weinstein’s health and legal woes as he faces more criminal charges
FILE — Harvey Weinstein appears for a pretrial hearing in Manhattan criminal court, July 19, 2024, in New York. (Adam Gray/Pool Photo via AP, File)
