"[W]e order that the Honorable Norene S. Redmond be publicly censured. This order stands as our public censure."
In re: The Honorable Norene S. Redmond Judge, 38th District Court Eastpointe, Michigan. SC: 134481 (Michigan Supreme Court Order).
Nobody likes to be called an "asshole."
Especially a judge.
Especially if she finds out about it.
And especially when it's coming from the mouth of a 16-year-old whose mother is waiting in a jail cell for someone to throw her $500 bail that the judge just ordered on the mother's misdemeanor domestic violence and felony resisting and obstructing charges.
What's a judge to do about a situation like this to avoid censure by the Michigan Supreme Court?
Here are some things not to do:
Don't reconvene the bond hearing on the record without the mother present.
Especially when she's not represented by counsel.
Especially when you state for the record that her kid has called you a bad name.
And especially when the when next thing you do is up the ante on the mother's bail from a $5,000/10 percent bond to $25,000 cash or surety.
And even more especially when the kid comes before you a few minutes later, accepts responsibility, asks that he be punished instead of his mother, and you don't back down.
* * *
Nobody likes guys who are accused of stealing from the elderly.
Especially a judge who is arraigning two of them in a courtroom under the watchful eyes of television cameras.
Especially when the police say they went inside a 90-year-old woman's house, swiped $800 and overcharged her for a painting job.
Especially when the police suggest the guys are flight risks.
What's a judge to do about a situation like this to avoid censure by the Michigan Supreme Court?
Here are some things not to do:
Don't respond to a defense attorney's argument for a low bond because his client's record is clean, he lives in the state and would likely get probation if convicted, by using words to the effect that it would be a shame if that's the way things turned out.
Especially when the next thing you do is set the guy's bond at $750,000 and, for good measure, tell the other guy, who does have a rap sheet, that his bond is a cool $1 million.
And even more especially, when doing all of this might give folks the idea that the whopping big bails were intended to punish these guys before they even went to trial instead of just making sure that they show up for it.
***
Nobody trying to get a decent night's sleep likes a noisy party that lasts until almost dawn.
Especially when this happens more than once.
Especially when one of the partygoers is on the hostess's front porch at 4 a.m., talking loudly on a cell phone.
Everybody likes it very much when the cops come and write the hostess a noise ticket that requires her to appear in court.
Especially when they'll have the opportunity to go to court as well and tell the judge just what they think about what's been going on in the neighborhood.
What's a judge to do about a situation like this to avoid censure by the Michigan Supreme Court?
Here are some things not to do:
Don't read a petition from the complaining neighbors without disclosing that you know some of them.
Especially when you let the neighbors repeatedly interrupt the hostess, who had no attorney, during the course of the proceedings.
Especially when you repeat some of the comments and complaints, even though they have nothing to do with the matter at hand.
And especially when doing all of this could make people think that the sentence you handed down for a noise ticket -- fines and costs, two years reporting probation with the first 30 days served in jail, daily preliminary breath tests, home visits, 100 hours of community service, no parties unless approved by the neighbors who signed the petition, and no one to spend the night except the folks who live there -- just might have been motivated by personal anger and an approving crowd.
***
Judges don't like to be censured by the Michigan Supreme Court.
Especially when they think they are right.
What's a judge to do about a situation like this?
Judge Redmond issued a statement. As reported in the Detroit Free Press:
"I have always done what I believe is right for the community and I will continue to do so[.] ... I know that I can put my head on my pillow tonight and be at peace with the decisions that I made."Related reading:
Judge Redmond's Judicial Tenure Commission Settlement Agreement
Macomb Daily: Supreme Court scolds judge
Detroit News: Court censures Redmond
7 comments:
No one should like it when one judge is picked out to be censured for setting a weekend bond outside of the defendant's presence, when public records show that practice regularly occurs every weekend, on a rotating basis by all of the district court judges, in Macomb County and nothing is done about that practice. Warrants are never sworn out on weekends, defendants are frequently not present, and yet bonds are set as part of a county-wide practice.
No one should like it when the judge made a pretty good record of why the bond was modified and it was wasn't because of name-calling.
No one should like it when one judge is censured for setting a weekend bond at a certain amount but another jurist who presided over a formal arraignment the following business day maintained the same bond.
No one should like it when a judge is censured for making a discretionary bond decision, based upon a recommendation of the police department about the defendants being a flight risk, particularly when (1) that judge was affirmed in her decisions to not recuse herself, (2) the judge's community has had several occassions where individuals who prey upon seniors abscond from the State and fight a lengthy extradition process in the hopes of the death or mental deterioration of the alleged victims in the process (for the record, the alleged victim passed away last summer), and (3) three days after one of the defendants was sentenced in circuit court and was ordered to not leave the State of Michigan, not only left the State of Michigan but was arrested in the State of Florida. No one should like the fact that, not only was no adverse action taken by the sentencing circuit court judge but the defendant's probation was terminated several months early.
No one should like the fact that a judge is censured for imposing a strict sentence, within the law, particularly when the defendant later voluntarily withdrew her circuit court appeal and, at her probation termination hearing, thanked the now-censured judge for the sentence. Go figure that one out.
No one should like any of that.
The judge should be able to sleep at night. She did the right thing for the right reasons and all of the public records bear that out. Unfortunately some folks outside of the MSC had selective recognition of what is a "relevant" public record and didn't think it was important to include other facts. As the saying goes, there's no way to fight City Hall -- or at what expense?
It's the rest of us who should be losing a lot sleep over what happened within the current framework.
Did you know that today's Macomb Daily (which wasn't included in the posting) quoted one of the defense attorneys involved in the travelling con-artist case as saying that Judge Redmond didn't do anything wrong?
AND THEN JUDGE REDMOND HAS THE NERVE TO RUN AGAIN FOR 38TH DISTRICT COURT JUDGE. THIS WOMEN HAS LOST HER HEAD. SHE IS QUICK TO SENTENCE FIRST TIME OFFENDERS TO JAIL, AND GOD FORBID SHE KNOWS THE VICTIM OF THE CRIME PERSONNALY IF SHE COULD SHE WOULD PROBLEY YELL "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD". ITS AMAZING THAT THIS JUDGE WOULD CONSIDER RUNNING AGAIN WHEN YOU GOOGLE HER NAME IT COMES UP UNDER WIERD NEWS. MY FAVORITE JUDGE REDMOND INCIDENT IS THE BRINGING OF HER DOGS TO COURT. THIS IS THE SAME WOMEN THAT DOES NOT ALLOW BLUE JEANS IN HER COURT ROOM. SHE CAN'T EVEN OBEY THE CITY LAW THAT DOES NOT ALLOW ANIMIALS IN CITY BUILDING UNLESS THERE ASSISTING THE HANDICAP. SHE REALLY THINKS SHE IS ABOVE THE LAW. IF THE PEOPLE OF EASTPOINTE ELECT HER AGAIN THEY GET WHAT THEY DESERVE.
PEOPLE OF EASTPOINTE NEED TO UNITE. THIS JUDGE WAS CENSURED FOR HER BEHAVIOR, AND THE WAY SHE TREATS OUR CITIZENS. SURE SHE LAYS HER HEAD DOWN AT NIGHT AND FEELS SHE DID THE RIGHT THINGS I AM SURE THAT HITLER THOUGHT SO TOO. SHE NEEDS TO TAKE A LOOK AT HER ACTIONS. SHE WAS CALLED THE FEDERAL GOVERMENT ON HER OWN CITY. DISOBEYED THE CITY LAWS BY BRINGING ANIMALS IN TO A PUBLIC BUILDING. HAD TO HAVE A MONITOR IN HER COURTROOM BECAUSE OF HER BEHAVIOR, AND HAS HAD HER NAME PLACED IN THE WIERD NEWS.
MOST ATTORNEYS THAT WORK IN MACOMB COUNTY DO NOT BELIEVE THAT SHE SHOULD BE ELECTED AGAIN AS A DISTRICT JUDGE. ONLY THE PEOPLE OF EASTPOINTE CAN CONTROL HER DESTINY, BUT LETS LOOK FELLOW CITIZENS, THERE ARE MUCH BETTER CHOICES OUT THERE TO BE A JUDGE, AND NORENE REDMOND IS NOT ONE OF THEM.
THE CITIZENS OF EASTPOINTE NEED TO KEEP HER RECORD IN MIND WHEN THEY GO TO THE POLLS. SHE IS MAKING A FOOL OF COMMUNITY
WELL ALL OF EASTPOINTE PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED 4 PEOPLE ARE RUNNING AGAINST NORENE REDMOND. WELL NORENE PACK YOUR DESK, AND PREPARE YOUR LITTLE LAP DOGS (PROBATION OFFICERS AND COURT CLERK) THIS MAKES OUR DAY. THE COURT AND ITS EMPLOYEES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE HELD TO A HIRE STANDARD. THE PUBLIC EXPECTS THE GOVERNMENT WORKERS TO BE FAIR, AND HONEST IN THERE DEALINGS WITH THE CITIZENS. PEOPLE LIKE YOU AND YOUR STAFF MAKE ALL GOVERMENT EMPLOYESS LOOK BAD. THE JUDGES THAT WORKED IN EASTPOINTE PRIOR TO YOU WHERE PROFESSIONAL FAIR AND HONEST. YOU AND YOUR TEAM OF MERRY MEN HAVE EMBARRESED. THOSE JUDGE BY YOUR BEHAVIOR. JUDGE REDMOND, YOU HAVE MADE A FOOL OF ALL THE PEOPLE IN EASTPOINTE. LET ME MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR THAT ALL THE PEOPLE YOU HAVE WRONGED WILL COME TOGETHER AND WORK TO MAKE SURE ANY ONE OF THE OTHERS THAT ARE RUNNING FOR YOUR POSITON WILL GET IT. YOU DESERVE TO LOOSE AND IN A BIG WAY. I HOPE YOU ONLY GET THREE VOTES, YOURS, YOUR CLERK, AND YOUR HEAD PROBATION OFFICER. I HOPE YOUR OWN FAMILY WON'T VOTE FOR YOU, BECAUSE YOUR RUINING THERE GOOD NAME. SO LET ME BE THE FIRST TO STAY GOODBYE JUDGE REDMOND TAKE YOUR PETS, PICTURES OF YOURSELF AND YOUR EGO AND GET THE HECK OUT OF EASTPOINTE. HEY MAYBE THEY HAVE A OPENING FOR YOU IN THE ANIMAL CONTROL OFFICE YOU CAN PICK UP DEAD SQUIRRLES YOU DON'T LIKE THEM EITHER.
Hi,The public expects the government workers to be fair,and honest in there dealings with the citizens.People like you and your staff make all government employees look bad.
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gracy
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