Detroit Judge Handcuffs Teen For Sleeping In Courtroom During Excursion

A Detroit court judge has been temporarily taken off the bench after he had forced a 15-year-old female student to wear handcuffs and a jail uniform because she accidentally appeared to fall asleep during a field trip to his court.

Judge King justifies the girl's punishment

District Court Judge Kenneth King said he did not like Eva Goodman's "attitude" and wanted to show her "how you are to conduct yourself in a courtroom, " so he gave her stringent punishments. The teenager was visiting the 36th District Court for a trip organized by the environmental charity The Greening, whose other excursions included kayaking and bird-watching.

On August 16, Thursday, the chief judge of the 36th District Court, William McConico, claimed through his statements that he had conducted a swift and thorough internal investigation of the incident and had decided to temporarily take Mr King off his cases to undergo 'necessary training'.

“We sincerely hope that this incident does not undermine our longstanding relationships with local schools,” Judge McConio said. The girl's mother, Latoreya Hill, told local news: "Would you want someone to treat your child like that? To belittle her in front of the whole world and her friends, to make her feel even worse about her situation."

Video from the court shows Judge King telling Ms Hill's daughter: "One thing you'll learn about my courtroom is that I'm not a toy. I am not to be played with." He even asked other visitors on the trip to vote if he should put Eva in a juvenile detention centre, before making the harsh decision to have her handcuffed and dressed in a jail outfit before releasing her.

"It was her whole attitude and her whole disposition that disturbed me," the judge said in interviews afterwards."I wanted to get through to her, show how serious this is, I'll do whatever needs to be done to reach these kids and make sure that they don't end up in front of me," he added. In the video of the incident, Judge King tells Eva angrily, "You sleep at home in your bed, not in court."

Ms Hill, a single mother of two, said,  Eva did not have "her bed that she can sleep in. She was tired." She adds by saying, "I'm trying my best." Judge Aliyah Sabree, who has the Number 2 top leadership post at the court, said on Wednesday that Mr King's actions did "not reflect the standards" of the court and would be "addressing this matter with the utmost diligence".

Meanwhile, King remained adamant by standing to his decisions. "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.