EDITOR'S NOTE: The girl's age was originally reported at 16. Family have now informed 7 News Detroit that she is 15.
A Detroit nonprofit hosted a field trip at the 36th District Court so students could learn about the legal system, when a sleeping teenager during the visit ended up in a jail uniform, handcuffs and in front of Judge Kenneth King because of her “attitude” inside his courtroom.
On Tuesday, children part of a three-week program with the nonprofit The Greening of Detroit were taken to 36th District Court for a field trip. Other field trips in the program include kayaking and watching birds. However, this was an opportunity for students to watch a real trial play out and speak to a judge.
Before the defense and prosecution even entered the court, King addressed the students and answered their questions. He then noticed a 16-year-old girl dozing off.
"You fall asleep in my courtroom one more time, I’m gonna put you in back understood," the Judge addressed the girl in the courtroom.
Judge King then says the teen gave him "attitude" for falling asleep.
"It wasn't so much, in fact, that she had fallen asleep because I have attorneys that fall asleep sometimes, so that's not too big of a deal. It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me," King told 7 News Detroit. "I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is and how you are to conduct yourself inside of a courtroom."
The judge can then be heard saying that the girl must change into a jail uniform and sit in lock up.
"That's not something that normally happens. But I felt compelled to do it because I didn't like the child's attitude," King said. "I haven't been disrespected like that in a very long time.”
The judge then threatened the 15-year-old with jail time at the juvenile detention facility.
"The thing about the juvenile detention facility is a lot of the people that are there are not just bad kids. You have a lot of mentally ill kids there. The last time I was there, I had a kid who was actually sticking a spoon up their rectum and spreading feces on the wall," he said to the young girl in the courtroom.
The judge then had other students vote if she should be sent to the detention facility; he ended up letting her go.
"Was I really going to do that? Probably not. Could I have? Probably so. But that's not what I want to do to a kid who's there on a field trip," King said. "Do I think I was heavy handed in what I did? No, I don't. Because I'll do whatever it needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure that they don't end up in front of me."
His methods on teaching the youth are now raising questions within the legal community. Larry Dubin, a former attorney with a background in legal ethics and now-law professor at University of Detroit Mercy, made his concerns heard.
"Just totally inappropriate. There were so many other ways in which to have helped that young girl learn," Dubin said. "I have never seen anything quite like what I saw that took place in the courtroom."
Veronica Valentine McNally, director of Trial Advocacy at Michigan State University's College of Law, says judges play an important role in teaching youth how to behave inside and outside the courtroom.
"It can be beneficial for students to learn proper courtroom etiquette and to understand the importance of courtroom proceedings, which helps them appreciate the seriousness of the environment while gaining valuable insights," she said.
The Greening of Detroit says they have been in contact with the child and her parents. In a statement, nonprofit Chairperson Marissa Ebersole Wood said:
"A group of minors visited the courtroom of Judge Kenneth King at 36th District Court in Detroit on a field trip today. It is unfortunate that he chose to make an example of a 15-year-old girl in front of her peers. He made her wear handcuffs and a jail uniform and yelled at her for falling asleep in his courtroom. Although the Judge was trying to teach a lesson of respect, his methods were unacceptable. The group of students should have been simply asked to leave the courtroom if he thought they were disrespectful. We have spoken to the student and her parents and the young lady was traumatized by the Judge’s unnecessary disciplinary treatment and scolding."
King stands by how he handled his courtroom Tuesday, saying it was all in an effort to help the child.
"I wanted this to look and feel very real to her, even though there's probably no real chance of me putting her in jail," he said. "That was my own version of Scared Straight."
