A Taylor judge may have resigned, but the professional misconduct case against him is still underway.
Taylor’s 23rd District Judge Joseph Slaven gave notice of his resignation and retirement the same week that his public judicial misconduct hearings were set to begin. Now, after Slaven failed to appear for a new hearing start date, the official overseeing the case has accepted the allegations against Slaven as true.
The move hastens the resigned elected official on the path toward possible Michigan Supreme Court sanctions.
Slaven did not respond to requests for comment.
The Michigan Supreme Court is empowered to suspend or remove a judge in a misconduct matter. Though Slaven is now already off the bench, it should be noted that the court has taken extra steps in some cases to not only remove a judge but keep them from reclaiming their seat through reelection.
In those cases, the court has ordered a judge to be removed and barred from judicial office for a number of years.
Slaven was serving his second six-year term, set to end at the start of 2027. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer must appoint someone to finish the remainder of his term.
Slaven was accused in the misconduct case of disparaging his chief judge, repeatedly failing to wear his judicial robe, promoting the chief judge’s election opponent from the bench, using courthouse resources to print that opponent’s campaign materials and flipping his middle finger at security cameras.
Slaven denied wrongdoing in a formal response. He said a contempt hearing may be needed, gave definitions of “wear” and “robe,” and argued the middle fingers and alleged campaign material — which he said was actually a work document with a misleading title — were part of a ruse created to prove his chief judge and the court administrator were spying on him.
Slaven sent a letter noting his resignation and retirement on Nov. 4, the day before his public hearings were set to start.
However, Slaven didn’t file the resignation with State Court Administrator Thomas Boyd, as needed, according to an order from the so-called “special master” or judge for the judge in the misconduct case, retired Barry County Judge James H. Fisher.
Boyd’s office did receive the required written notice on Friday, Nov. 7, Boyd said in an email.
Meanwhile, Fisher adjourned the Nov. 5 hearing based on the “erroneous assumption” that the proceeding was “moot,” according to an order by special master. Fisher subsequently set a new start date for Nov. 10.
Slaven was given notice of the new date, but didn’t show, according to an order from Fisher dated Nov. 10.
Fisher will now write a report and send it to the entity that investigates judicial misconduct and brought the complaint against Slaven, the Judicial Tenure Commission.
The commission will then make its recommendation to the Michigan Supreme Court, said Lynn Helland, executive director and general counsel for the Judicial Tenure Commission.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Ex-Taylor judge still faces misconduct case
Reporting by Darcie Moran, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
1 comment
This judge needed to go. As a judge of the 23rd District Court of the State of Michigan, Slaven presided over a case which was featured on the TV show “Court Cam”: a Joshua Lantto was being prosecuted for interfering with an officer’s duty, a trivial matter which rendered no harm to anyone involved; in response to Mr. Lantto’s irregular conduct during a hearing, Slaven did perform the following improprieties:
1. Slaven had, in plain foreground view of his computerized Zoom-session’s camera, one blue book with a clear Freemasonry stamp on its spine, its title indeterminate. This is a clear violation of the concept of an impartial court via its officers’ conduct, by virtue of religious influence;
2. Slaven declared to Lantto that he made an oath “upon the Holy Bible” regarding his admission into office of Judge prior to the case at-hand. This, too, is a clear violation of the concept of an impartial court via its officers’ conduct, by virtue of religious influence;
3. Slaven declared the court was “not a Jerry Springer show”, complaining about Lantto’s approach. Such comments by Slaven were inflammatory and not within the privilege of office afforded to Slaven.
America’s so-called ‘judicial system’ (nay, legal system) needs serious overhaul and restructuring. It is plain and clear that the vast majority of American judges are self-serving, biased, influenced from outside sources and, of course, de-facto alcoholics; they are unfit to solely hold the fates of American citizens in their hands. Judges need to be reduced in power and stature, subservient to the power afforded to a jury.