
*The mother of a 15-year-old girl who was handcuffed after she fell asleep in a courtroom during a field trip has condemned the actions of the judge.
Latoreya Till claims her daughter, Eva Goodman, is now afraid to return to work and face her peers following the incident with Judge Kenneth King.
“My daughter is hurt. She is feeling scared. She didn’t want to go to work. She feels like as if her peers went against her,” she stated, The Jasmine Brand reports. “She was real nervous and intimidated.”
Eva, who works with The Greening Project to improve the city’s green infrastructure, attended a court session with 36th District Judge Kenneth King in Detroit on August 12 as part of a field trip with her peers. The purpose was to observe and learn, but she reportedly fell asleep multiple times, frustrating the judge.
The mother of the teenager handcuffed and threatened with jail says her daughter was likely tired because their family does not have a permanent place to stay
“We have to bounce around currently because we don’t have a permanent address.” https://t.co/kEJFct35he https://t.co/8qqWJIaLD8
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) August 15, 2024
Till argues that Eva fell asleep due to the significant impact of their challenging living conditions.
“We have to bounce around currently because we don’t have a permanent address,” said Till. “And so, that particular night, we got in kind of late. And usually, when she goes to work, she’s up and planting trees or being active.”
In a video of the courtroom, Judge King scolded Eva for falling asleep and threatened jail time if it happened again. Officers removed her from the courtroom, where she waited for two hours before returning. She was also reportedly required to change into a green prison jumpsuit.
“Do I have any reservations?…No, I don’t because I’ll do whatever needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure they don’t end up in front of me. So that was my own version of scared straight,” said Judge King in a separate interview.
Judge King is now facing consequences over the incident. William McConico, the chief judge at 36th District, said King has been pulled from the bench while undergoing “necessary training” the Associated Press reports.
McConico said the court “remains deeply committed to providing access to justice in an environment free from intimidation or disrespect. The actions of Judge King on August 13th do not reflect this commitment.”
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