The Daily Populous Saturday September 7th, 2024 day edition
Authored by apnews.com and submitted by djarvis77

PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit judge is no longer handling cases after a court official turned over recordings of her making anti-gay insults and referring to Black people as lazy.

Oakland County Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan was removed from her docket on Aug. 27 for unspecified misconduct. Now the court’s administrator has stepped forward to say he blew the whistle on her, secretly recording their phone calls.

“I just want to make it right. ... I want to keep my job and do it in peace,” Edward Hutton told WXYZ-TV. “And I want the people in Oakland County that come to court to get a fair shake, to have their day in court, to have an unbiased trier of fact.”

The judge didn’t talk to the TV station, but her attorneys, Gerald Gleeson and Thomas Cranmer, said: “We look forward to vindicating Judge Ryan in the appropriate forum.”

Probate judges in Michigan handle wills and estates, guardianships and cases that involve the state’s mental health laws.

In the phone recordings, Ryan uses a anti-gay slur against David Coulter, the county’s highest elected official, who is gay. She also referred to Blacks in the U.S. as lazy.

“I’m not systemically racist. I’m a new racist,” said Ryan, who was first elected in 2010.

It is legal to record phone calls in Michigan if one party consents. In this matter, it was Hutton, who said Ryan had called him at work and after-hours for years.

Hutton said he sent the recordings in August to Coulter; Elizabeth Clement, the chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court; and other officials. Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark then suspended her, with pay, while she’s investigated by a judiciary watchdog, the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.

Her father, James Ryan, was a state and federal judge. A brother, Daniel Ryan, was also a judge.

Ferelwing on September 6th, 2024 at 23:29 UTC »

It gets worse...

> Domestic violence charge The vulgar recordings aren’t Ryan’s first example of using coarse language against those she considers her inferiors. In November 2021, she was charged with domestic violence. The case was dismissed in March 2022. According to a police report of the incident obtained from the Wixom Police Department, Ryan had been drinking and repeatedly struck a male companion during an argument, injuring the victim’s face. Although she was uninjured, Ryan was evaluated at Ascension Providence Hospital, and while there she shouted obscenities at police officers and hospital staff, tried to walk away from custody and told everyone that she was a judge and would be “coming after” them, the report states.

https://eu.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2024/09/06/recording-oakland-county-judge-kathleen-ryan-gay-racist-slurs/75096130007/

Edited: Formatting.

whirlygiggling on September 6th, 2024 at 22:46 UTC »

> Her father, James Ryan, was a state and federal judge. A brother, Daniel Ryan, was also a judge.

I’d wager to guess that the rotten apple didn’t fall from the termite-ridden tree here, and that each of these judges have all been slipping into a differently colored robe after work.

darknekolux on September 6th, 2024 at 22:43 UTC »

> “I’m not systemically racist. I’m a new racist,”

You know... just like old school racist, but cool...