Judge faces lawsuit after forcing student to put on jail garments and handcuffs and enter isolated holding cell
A Detroit judge who briefly detained a teenage girl who fell asleep in his courtroom during a school field trip to learn about the justice system was demoted to presiding over traffic court as he faces a federal lawsuit.
Judge Kenneth King was moved to the state court’s traffic division after the incident on 13 August. King was temporarily removed from the bench as he completed mandatory training following his actions.
“We appreciate his efforts in preparing for this role, and wish him success as he transitions into this new responsibility,” said the chief judge, William McConico, in a statement.
The bigger picture here is that he had an active YouTube livestream with roughly a 1000 fans that he used to interact with while in cases over the last few years. He even repositioned the cameras for them while he was harrasing that poor girl.
Its clear that his treatment of her was not only an ego trip, but one done for views.
What in the fuck? I’m surprised they even let cameras in the courtroom, let alone let the judge be a streamer!
They are public places with public proceedings. For the most part, you can just go in and sit down and watch a case, assuming there is space.
It varies wildly by location as to whether or not recording equipment is allowed in. Why do you think courtroom sketch artists are still a thing?
My local court house makes all non-lawyers leave their phones in their cars. You can watch all you want, but only with your eyes. They won’t let you through the metal detector with a phone.
Well there’s a difference between them streaming things to the public for the sake of transparency, and you taking private videos for god knows what.
streaming is actually not that unheard of.
https://youtube.com/@honjcedricsimpsonlivefeed4076
https://youtube.com/@highcourtofmeghalayaI can see a certain angle where it makes sense: youth/general outreach, educating people about the court system. Something a little more interactive/entertaining than CSPAN, but more real than Judge Judy.
But you throw “influencer culture” into the mix and you’ve got a disastrous recipe for The Chat influencing the outcome of cases.
The only way I could see it potentially working is if there’s like a team who handles the whole thing.
Maybe there’s one or two cameras, one facing the courtroom and the other facing the judge. The judge doesn’t see any screens of any kind, and doesn’t have access to a keyboard or anything to interact with a chat, if there even is one; ideally there would be no chat and it would just be a stream you watch. If there is a chat, someone else should be handling it and possibly not even in the same room.
My link goes into it, but thats what the court oversight commission in the state wants. An inhouse system where streams and their features are centrally controlled. They have not been able to get funding to stand that up, but they have been advocating for it.
Their current recommendation is that YouTube comments be disabled, but they don’t have the legal mandate to enforce that apparently. This judge’s shitty behaviour may help them make that case at least.
Hmm the world has already turned more dystopian than I had assumed
