COA denies Wayne prosecutor's bid to disqualify 36th District Court bench

The Michigan Court of Appeals has turned down Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy's application to disqualify the entire 36th District Court bench from conducting the preliminary examination of Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick.

Kilpatrick is accused of perjury, obstruction of justice and other charges.

The three-page order notes that in two prior cases where an entire judicial bench was disqualified, there was no analysis of the facts or any articulated analysis and, therefore, were of no help in this case.

Analyzing this case under MCR 2.003(B), the COA observed that even if some of the judges may be called as witnesses during the preliminary exam, "MCR 2.003(b)(6) requires the recusal of a judge only when 'the judge or the judge's spouse, or a person within the third degree of relationship to either of them, or the spouse of such a person ... is to the judge's knowledge likely to be a material witness in the proceeding.' None of the judges who are proposed witnesses fall within this rule."

Click here for the full text of the order.