Veteran Oakland County Probate Judge Kathleen Ryan was relieved of her duties on Thursday after recordings of her saying racist and anti-gay slurs came to light.
The recordings were sent to key public officials, including a county executive named Dave Coulter, who is gay. Some of the slurs that Ryan used were about Coulter.
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In a statement to the Detroit Free Press, Coulter said that Ryan’s words were “abhorrent” and said they justified her removal from the county’s probate court “pending further investigation.”
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“There is absolutely no place for harassment of any kind or racist or homophobic language by anyone at Oakland County, especially by someone the public must be confident will act fairly and impartially. I have confidence that the agencies reviewing this matter will treat it with the seriousness it deserves and will take further action if warranted,” Coulter said.
According to county officials, Ryan was removed from her docket last week. The tapes, obtained by the Free Press on Thursday, not only capture Ryan’s crude remarks about Coulter but also record her calling the average Black American “a f**king lazy piece of sh*t” and labeling herself as “a new racist.”
Ryan also called Coulter and other elected officials “little fa***t.”
Dave Woodward, chair of the Oakland County Board of Commissioners, confirmed that he also received copies of the recordings.
“I was appalled. There’s simply no justification for it,” Woodward said. He noted that such language “disgraces the judicial position, undermines the integrity of the judiciary, and destroys public trust in our legal system.” Woodward also expressed hope that “if it is indeed the judge making these comments,” an investigation would lead to her permanent removal from the bench.
Oakland County Probate Court Administrator Ed Hutton recorded the former judge in secret, he told WXYZ News. Hutton told WXYZ-TV that he had recorded Ryan for the last two years after hearing “her hate and contempt for various protected groups.”
Hutton also submitted a notice of sexual harassment involving Ryan in May to Oakland County Probate Court Chief Judge Linda Hallmark but didn’t hear any follow-up about it. Hutton took matters into his own hands, sending the recordings to Coulter, Woodward, and Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement.
Judge Hallmark removed Ryan from her courtroom duties and forwarded information about the recordings to the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, the state agency responsible for recommending disciplinary actions against judges. These recommendations can include removal from office, though the final decision rests with the state Supreme Court.
Ryan had domestic violence charges against her that were dropped four months later, in November 2021. A police report from the Wixom Police Department detailed that Ryan, after drinking, repeatedly hit a male companion during an argument.
Although Ryan was unharmed, she was taken to Ascension Providence Hospital for evaluation. At the hospital, she allegedly shouted obscenities at police officers and hospital staff, attempted to leave custody, and warned them that she was a judge and would be “coming after” them, according to the report.
The police later spoke with the victim, who stated that “he wanted to pick up his girlfriend (Ryan) as soon as possible” and added that “aside from her hitting me in the face four or five times, nothing else really happened.” Ryan was instead taken to the Oakland County Jail. The following day, she was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence, granted a personal recognizance bond, and released from jail. The charge was dropped in March 2022.
