Financial discrepancies discovered in Michigan district court, judge placed on leave

April 14, 2011

Michigan: Judge Sylvia A. James of the Michigan Twenty-second Judicial District Court was placed on paid administrative leave on April 13th after an audit of the court's financials revealed some questionable travel expenses and other bookkeeping issues. The audit occurred in March and was performed by the state Court Administrative Office at the prompting of city officials from the City Council and Mayor's Office. The Administrative Office recently decided to expand this audit and placed Judge James on leave "until further order of the court".

The court was shown to have spent over $12,000 in travel expenses to drug court conferences, even though no drug court program exists in the 22nd District. A "community service account," out of which was paid over $102,000 in 2009 and 2010, will also be investigated more thoroughly. James has been asked to clarify other payments too, such as: $700 to the Inkster Police Auxiliary and $400 for JV cheerleader uniforms, among others. Marcia McBrien, spokesperson for the Supreme Court, explained, "The Supreme Court obviously found that there was enough, based on the audit, the items in the community service account and Judge James' response to warrant further investigation."

James' attorney, Sharon McPhail, said the audit was simply the result of political disagreements and that James should return to the bench shortly. Until then, however, Valdemar Washington, a retired former chief judge of the 7th Circuit Court and a former deputy treasurer for the state, will serve as an interim judge.