'I'm a new racist.' New recordings surface as investigation into Oakland County judge continues

New recordings reveal Oakland County judge felt 'untouchable'

By: Heather Catallo

(WXYZ) — It’s a story the 7 Investigators first broke: a local judge caught on tape, accused of making racist and homophobic comments. Now 7 Investigator Heather Catallo has obtained more of those recordings.

Judge Kathleen Ryan was removed from her docket in late August. The 7 Investigators have learned that investigators from the Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) have been conducting interviews about the judge’s alleged behavior with employees at the Oakland County probate court.

It's unclear at this point will she be taken off the bench for good, disciplined, or allowed to go back to work.

7 Investigator Heather Catallo first obtained the recordings that Oakland County officials say prompted Judge Kathleen Ryan’s removal from her docket in August.

In one recording Ryan allegedly said: “I can honestly say that, ok I’m not systemically racist – I’m a new racist.”

In another recording obtained by the 7 Investigators, she allegedly said: “You f*****g Black c***. I’m so pissed off at this Black Lives Matter, #MeToo, all this bulls***, oh my God – f**k you b***h.”

Ryan is the Oakland County Chief Probate Pro Tem Judge and she’s been on the bench for more than 13 years.

Attorney Edward Hutton is the Oakland County Probate Court Administrator.

Hutton is in charge of running everything that’s not under the judges’ purview inside one of the state’s largest probate courts.

“I've never met anybody that enjoys hurting people and brags about it the way she does — or intimidating people, or scaring people,” Hutton told 7 Investigator Heather Catallo.

He alleges Judge Ryan has been calling him both during work and after-hours for years, and Hutton says during those hours and hours of calls Judge Ryan said highly inappropriate and racist things.

In another recording, Ryan allegedly said this: “…with this whole Black Lives Matter stuff you know they’re like - everyone’s all entitled and s**t… Let’s assume they did get screwed just because of the nature of your color, and the way America is, systemic racism, all that s**t! Fine. But don’t they have an obligation to step up to the plate too? I mean think about it, all they have to do is look at their history, like the whole like baby mommas, and the dads taking off, it’s like, you guys have an obligation too. You want us to treat you equally - you got to f*****g step up and do the same job! You know, you don’t get to be a lazy a**”

“Why did you start recording the calls?” Catallo asked Hutton.

“I just felt like it wasn't going to change,” said Hutton. “Nothing's manipulated and it's conversations that I was a part of. It's something that I anticipate at some point I'll probably have to testify to under oath, and I'm absolutely willing to testify to the authenticity of every single one of them.”

Hutton says he sent Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark a formal complaint about Judge Ryan in May. He says very little happened until 3 months later when he sent the recordings of Ryan to the Michigan Supreme Court and to the Oakland County executive.

Judge Hallmark then issued a statement saying she notified the Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC) which decides whether judges should face discipline.

Sources tell the 7 investigators the highly secretive JTC investigative process is underway. But Hutton says he’s always been concerned Judge Ryan’s powerful friends in Oakland County might protect her.

In another recording Ryan allegedly said this: “I hate to say it, knock on wood. I really kind of am untouchable… They can’t touch me… They can’t touch my salary. They can’t touch my job. All they can do is have somebody run against me. Good luck!”

Hutton says Ryan has bragged in the past about knowing people on the Judicial Tenure Commission, although there’s no indication she’s contacted them about this issue.

Hutton says Judge Ryan also previously talked about how the rest of the Oakland County judges would support her in past matters.

Recording: “I’m pretty untouchable. So you guys really want to be d***s… You got 22 judges who are p*****s. Guess what - they’re still going to back me”

This isn’t the first time that Judge Ryan has allegedly made statements about her status as a judge.

In November of 2021, Wixom police arrested Ryan for domestic assault. That charge was later dropped, but police records say Ryan hit her boyfriend in the face and when she was arrested she allegedly mentioned “she was a ‘Judge…” and yelled “obscenities at [the officer], saying, she was going to ‘come after [the officer]…’”

“Judges are at the center of representing the system of justice to the public. It's not only important the way in which they handle their work, but the view that the public has of them,” said Larry Dubin, law professor emeritus at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law.

Dubin is a legal ethics expert and says Judge Ryan’s statements about race and being untouchable have the potential for serious consequences from the JTC, because even the appearance of misconduct can violate the Code of Judicial Conduct.

“I would say that if a judge believes that he or she is basically untouchable, that they basically can do whatever they want to do and there will not be any consequences for it -- is really mistaken,” said Dubin. “So the Supreme Court is going to be concerned, even if a judge is creating a bad image before the public.”

“She's a judge and she makes decisions from the bench ... that affect individuals’ lives and families’ lives and have a rippling effect throughout our communities, our county, our state. And it just can't be allowed to continue,” said Hutton.

The 7 Investigators did reach out to Judge Ryan’s attorneys. They did not comment on these new recordings but previously told us in a statement: “We respect the authority of the Michigan Supreme Court. However, we look forward to vindicating Judge Ryan in the appropriate forum.”

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of the JTC says their confidentiality rules prevent them from commenting as well.

Full Article & Source:
'I'm a new racist.' New recordings surface as investigation into Oakland County judge continues

See Also:
Michigan Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan and racism that is the tip of an iceberg of corruption.

Caught on audio: Oakland Co. judge called self a 'new racist,' used gay slurs 

Oakland Co. probate judge removed from docket pending misconduct investigation

Michigan Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan and racism that is the tip of an iceberg of corruption.

by GretchRHammond

Oakland County, Michigan Judge Kathleen Ryan made national headlines last week after recordings highlighting racist and homophobic comments caused her to be suspended from the bench pending a review by the state’s Judicial Tenure Commission (JTC). 

In 2019, my team and I investigated allegations of the systemic abuse and exploitation of thousands of Michigan’s most vulnerable citizens by attorneys employed as professional guardians in cases heard by Ryan and her three colleagues on the bench, Judges Daniel O’Brien, Linda Hallmark, and Jennifer Callaghan. 

Called, by Florida Rep. Claude Pepper, “the most punitive civil penalty that can be levied against an American citizen, with the exception, of course, of the death penalty,” in guardianship and/ or conservative cases, when an individual is declared unable to manage their own affairs by a probate or family court judge, he or she becomes a “legally incapacitated ward.” Although they are complete strangers to each other, a court-appointed professional guardian or conservator assumes control over every aspect of their ward's life.

That includes their homes, mail, bank accounts, retirement and social security income, IRAs, life and health insurance, wills and trusts, property, passports, driver’s licenses and voter registration cards.

Guardians also dictate where their wards will live, whether they can own a cellphone or a computer, where they may or may not go, who they are and are not allowed to see and what they are or are not allowed to eat.

A review of 2,278 Oakland County guardianship cases published in The Daily Kos and The Journal of Forensic and Investigative Accounting discovered a troubling pattern of individuals placed under guardianship, without medical evidence or the ability to testify in their defense, who allegedly had their bank accounts drained in as little as a year by massive overbilling while cars and personal valuables were unaccounted for.

Alleged victims were forced out of their homes and into nursing, assisted living facilities, and small group homes where they suffered abuse and neglect in living conditions, some of which were, at best, subhuman.

Ward placed in an unlicensed group home after an Oakland County guardianship. 

Their homes were sold at below market value to local investors or associates of the guardians who then resold the properties at market value or higher (known as a “strawman sale.”)

One such ward, World War II veteran Billy Garner, died after contracting scabies mites in a nursing facility in which his guardian had placed him, ignoring concerns about the conditions there. He was not alone. 

When wards or their family members complained or tried to have their guardianships terminated, Ryan and her colleagues pushed back, sometimes punitively, and deferred to the professional guardians, a number of whom had made donations to their judicial campaigns. 

In one instance, my team and I found three women under Oakland County guardianship who had been left abandoned for the Thanksgiving holiday, but not before the owners of their small group home had padlocked the refrigerator shut. 

Ryan’s 2010 campaign for Oakland County Probate Court judge received contributions from three professional guardians who worked in her courtroom, as well as cash and in-kind contributions from O’Brien.

She also received a donation from Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, who on March 25, 2019, announced an Elder Abuse Taskforce charged in part with reviewing measures to reform Michigan’s probate system. To date, no reform bills have been passed and there is no indication that the Oakland County professional guardians named in my team’s report have been investigated. 

Attorneys who work in Ryan’s courtroom have been accused of racism.

In 2018, retired neurologist Dr. Bashar Abou-Rass, the neighbor and longtime friend of a Bloomfield, Michigan man Thomas Howard found himself in Ryan’s courtroom after he was advised by a hospital social worker to petition for guardianship of Howard. 

At the guardianship hearing, Ryan denied Abou-Rass’s petition in favor of probate attorney and then-State Public Administrator Thomas Brennan Fraser, also a donor to Ryan’s campaign.

Guardian ad Litem and Redford, Michigan probate attorney Melinda Cameron was present to represent Howard’s interests. Before the hearing commenced, Abou-Rass had opened the door to the courtroom to allow Cameron to enter before him.

“She didn’t look at me, she didn’t say a word to me,” he remembered. “After it was all over, I was waiting for the order to release me as guardian. I said to Cameron, ‘Ma’am, the next time someone opens the door to you, at least say thank you.”

He says Cameron’s response was heard by both Ryan and Fraser.
 

‘Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re confusing me with women from your country.’”

“Cameron said to me, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, you’re confusing me with women from your country.’”

A stunned Abou-Rass filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission (MAGC). He asserted that neither Ryan nor Fraser would testify on his behalf.

“Cameron said that it was all lies,” he recalled. “The case was closed.”

The MAGC took no disciplinary action against Cameron.

In the under two years of Fraser’s guardianship Howard allegedly suffered neglect at the nursing homes in which he was placed, had his bank accounts drained through overbilling and his homes undersold and flipped. Although Howard had a car at the time he was placed under Fraser its value was not mentioned anywhere in Fraser’s filed accounts. The disposition of the car was unknown.

Howard died in February 2018 after numerous incidents in the nursing home were reported to Fraser but ignored. 

Oakland County ward Thomas Howard towards the end of his life, Photo courtesy of Dr. Barchard Abou-Rass

Ward family members and advocates fighting for change in Michigan’s guardianship system say that the allegations against Ryan are just the tip of an iceberg of corruption, theft, neglect, and abuse. Allegations are so rampant about Oakland County’s probate courtrooms it has quickly earned a reputation amongst litigants and the few probate attorneys willing to fight against guardianships imposed there as venues where the deck is stacked against them before their cases are even heard. 

According to numerous families who spoke with my team and I, if their case has anything to do with the Oakland County Probate Court, attorneys either decline to represent them or ask for an exorbitant retainer. Two such attorneys stated that the reason was a high probability of facing punitive sanctions or a disciplinary investigation, by the MAGC, for challenging a probate judge’s appointee.  

Meanwhile, they say numerous complaints to the Judicial Tenure Commission have gone unanswered and uninvestigated. 

To date, none of Oakland County’s public administrators or professional guardians have been charged with a crime. Both the JTC and Michigan Supreme Court have yet to enact any disciplinary proceeding against probate court judges.

Full Article & Source:
Michigan Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan and racism that is the tip of an iceberg of corruption.

See Also:
Caught on audio: Oakland Co. judge called self a 'new racist,' used gay slurs

Oakland Co. probate judge removed from docket pending misconduct investigation

Caught on audio: Oakland Co. judge called self a 'new racist,' used gay slurs

by Kara Berg

An Oakland County Probate Court judge who was removed from her docket last week for "unprofessional conduct" made a series of comments about Black people and used gay slurs, including at least two against Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter, before her removal, according to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News.

The six recordings were verified Thursday by Coulter's office and Oakland County Board of Commissioners Chairman David Woodward as being the voice of Probate Court Judge Kathleen Ryan. They include graphic statements about Coulter, who is gay, and refer to Black people in the United States as "lazy."

detroitnews · Calls Coulter a gay slur

The recordings are now connected to a state judicial misconduct investigation into Ryan, Coulter spokesman Bill Mullan said Thursday. Ryan, who was removed from her docket on Aug. 27, will remain on leave by order of the chief Oakland County Probate Court judge pending the outcome of a Judicial Tenure Commission investigation, Mullan said.

It's unclear when the recordings, which altogether last roughly a minute, were made or if Ryan consented to be recorded.

Ryan did not respond Thursday night for comment, and her attorneys couldn't be immediately reached.

Probate Court Administrator Edward Hutton declined to comment on Ryan's removal but told WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) for a story published Thursday that he is the one who recorded the audio of the judge and submitted a sexual harassment complaint against Ryan. He also said he sent the recordings to Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement, Coulter and other public officials on Aug. 22, months after he sent Oakland County Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark a notice of sexual harassment and nothing happened.

“I just want to make it right,” Hutton told WXYZ. “I haven't filed a lawsuit. I'm not looking for a payday. I want to keep my job and do it in peace. 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."

Hallmark said when Hutton reported the sexual harassment to her in May, she immediately contacted the State Court Administrator’s Office and the county. He did not give her any of the recordings until last week, she said, when she removed Ryan from her docket. She said Hutton sent the recordings out without her knowledge. 

“As soon as I heard recordings, I took immediate action,” Hallmark said. 

She declined to comment on the recordings other than noting they were “obviously troubling.” 

In the recordings, Ryan can be heard calling Coulter a gay slur and telling him to "put that in your f------ a-- and stuff it." She said Coulter was "more concerned about the f------ AIDS vaccinations."

The recordings were short and did not give any context for the rest of the conversation. It is unclear where or when they were recorded.

Ryan is heard in the audio saying that "as far as I’m concerned, (Coulter's) a skinny White girl."

Ryan also made a comment about how Black people from countries other than the U.S. are better and that "if you're an American Black person, then you’re a f------ lazy piece of shit."

"Like I said before, I was not racist before. I f------ h---, I am now," Ryan said. "I really f----- am now. I can honestly say that. OK, I’m not systemically racist, I’m a new racist. I never was, but now I am because you're shoving this s--- down my throat, making allegations that you don’t know s--- about. You’re telling me who I am and you’ve never f------ met me."

The probate judge also said another person is a "fucking c---sucker. He’s just a dick. I have no use for him."

“There is absolutely no place for harassment of any kind or for racist or homophobic language by anyone at Oakland County, especially by someone the public must be confident will act fairly and impartially," Coulter said in a statement. "The alleged conduct and abhorrent comments made by Judge Ryan merited her removal from the Probate Court docket pending further investigation. I have confidence that the agencies reviewing this matter will treat it with the seriousness it deserves and will take further action if warranted.”

Woodward, the board chairman, said if what Ryan said on the recording is true, she "needs to do the right thing and save the people of Oakland County the embarrassment and resign immediately."

"I can't express enough the disappointment and disgust I felt after hearing (the recordings)," Woodward said. "Bottom line, this type of hate speech dishonors the black robe, corrupts blind justice, and costs a loss of public trust in our judicial system."

Judicial Tenure Commission Executive Director Lynn Hellend has declined to confirm if there was an investigation into Ryan. The commission handles investigations into judicial misconduct on or off the bench, and most cases are handled confidentially within the commission. It is rare for judges to be removed in general, especially before their case is adjudicated.

Ryan does not have any previous public Judicial Tenure Commission complaints, according to the JTC website.

Ryan has been on the bench in Oakland County since 2010. She ran unopposed in 2022 and is next up for election in 2028.

Ryan was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence in 2021, but the case was dismissed in March 2022. The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office did not respond for comment on why the case was dismissed.

Full Article & Source:
Caught on audio: Oakland Co. judge called self a 'new racist,' used gay slurs 

See Also:
Oakland Co. probate judge removed from docket pending misconduct investigation

Oakland Co. probate judge removed from docket pending misconduct investigation

by Kara Berg and Hannah Mackay

An Oakland County Probate Court judge has been removed from her docket and put on leave indefinitely pending the results of a state misconduct investigation, according to the court.

Judge Kathleen Ryan was taken off her docket Tuesday due to a pending Judicial Tenure Commission investigation about "internal allegations of unprofessional conduct," Oakland County spokesperson Bill Mullan said Friday.

A visiting judge or judges will handle her caseload while the JTC case plays out. The commission handles investigations into judicial misconduct on or off the bench.

There are not currently any public cases involving Ryan, according to the commission website. Most cases are handled confidentially within the commission and are never made public. Ryan does not have any previous public JTC complaints, according to the panel's website.

Ryan was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence in 2021, but the case was dismissed in March 2022.

Ryan was elected to the Oakland County Probate Court in 2010 and has been practicing law since 1996.

Full Article & Source:
Oakland Co. probate judge removed from docket pending misconduct investigation