PONTIAC, Mich. (AP) — A suburban Detroit judge who sent three siblings to juvenile detention for refusing to meet with their estranged father has removed herself from the case.
The Detroit News and WJBK-TV report Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca issued an opinion Monday withdrawing herself because the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission accused her of misconduct. She wrote that she isn’t biased toward or against anyone, but her “continued assignment may create an appearance of impropriety.”
The judicial watchdog filed the ethics complaint earlier this month.
Gorcyca had been presiding over a nasty custody dispute involving the parents of three children. In July, she found the siblings in contempt and sent them to juvenile detention for refusing to have lunch with their dad.
After widespread publicity, the kids were released after two weeks.
