Judge claims he is immune from lawsuits after outrageous act on teenage girl who fell asleep in court during a field trip

A Detroit judge has claimed he is immune from lawsuits after lashing out at a teenage girl who fell asleep in court during a field trip.

Judge Kenneth King filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the teenage girl’s mother on Monday, claiming he was acting in his official judicial capacity when he handcuffed 15-year-old Eva Goodman and ordered her to wear prison garb after she dozed off during a field trip in August.

Goodman’s mother argued he violated the teenage girl’s constitutional rights to unreasonable search and seizure, being detained without due process, being compelled to provide evidence against herself, not getting the chance to hire a lawyer of her choosing and protection from ‘unusual punishment.’

But King asserted in his filing on Monday that even though he had been speaking to the students at the time, he was still acting in his judicial capacity at the time of their interactions and is therefore entitled to immunity, the Detroit Free Press reports. 

His attorney cited case law that states judges are immune in civil cases, even when they act in error, with malice or in excess of their authority.

‘We believe that he is protected by being a judge and acting as a judge, notwithstanding how people may perceive what he did,’ Todd Perkins, King’s attorney, told the Free Press.

‘At the end of the day, he is a judge.’

The judge, who has since been demoted to traffic court, was caught on the court’s livestream raising his voice at Goodman, saying: ‘You fall asleep in my courtroom one more time, I’m gonna put you in the back, understood?’

Judge King then ordered the teen be handcuffed and threatened her with juvenile detention in front of the field trip group, saying: ‘I’m gonna go to sleep tonight while you’re sitting in the juvenile detention facilities.’ 

He told the group: ‘One thing you’ll learn about my courtroom is that I am not a toy, I am not to be played with.’ 

She was ultimately taken away and brought back to the courtroom two hours later in jail attire, her family has claimed. 

In the end, King ultimately had the teen’s peers give a show of hands to determine whether he should let her go or send her to jail, the Free Press reports. 

Eva Goodman, 15, was on a field trip to a Detroit courthouse in August when she dozed off 

King then ordered the teen be handcuffed and threatened her with juvenile detention in front of the field trip group

But Goodman’s mother, Latoreya Till, later explained that the teenager was likely tired because her family did not have a permanent place to live and may have been disassociating because the homicide case bein discussed led her to relive old trauma.

She added: ‘We have to bounce around currently because we don’t have a permanent address. And so, that particular night, we got in kind of late. And usually, when she goes to work, she’s up and planting trees or being active.’ 

The judge later told WXYZ-TV: ‘That’s not something that normally happens but I felt compelled to do it because I didn’t like the child’s attitude… I haven’t been disrespected like that in a very long time.’

He also told the outlet that he realistically wasn’t going to put her in any juvenile detention center, saying he wouldn’t want to do that to a kid on a field trip, but easily could have. 

King argued in his motion on Monday that court is in session every time he is in the courtroom.

‘Under Plaintiff’s view, the Judge would have no ability to direct staff or control the function of Court without the Court being directly in session,’ which fails to recognize what judicial functions are, the motion says, according to the Free Press.

‘Plaintiff seems to allege that during a recess period a judge loses all authority over a courtroom is somehow stripped of his judicial authority.’

The girl’s mother filed a lawsuit against the judge, claiming he violated her daughter’s constitutional rights

He further argued that even Till’s complaint demonstrates that court was in session.

‘The trip that Plaintiff was on was to visit a sitting judge to watch a session of Court,’ the motion said, according to Law & Crime. 

It goes on to argue that Till cannot say Goodman fell asleep during official proceedings, while also saying that King’s response was not part of his official duties.

‘It is quite the paradox that Plaintiff can allege that it was the nature of the court session that caused her detachment, and then on the other hand argue that Defendant King was somehow divorced from his official duties and not acting in his official capacity,’ it says, going on to call the proposition the ‘antithesis of justice.’

But Goodman’s family has argued King’s plan ‘was to orchestrate his own version of Scared Straight that he broadcast to social media.

‘Plaintiff has further alleged that the judge planned a fake trial as evidenced by the fact that there was no case number, there is no court record, there was no case or controversy, that [Goodman] did not engage Judge King in his official capacity and the judge was personally motivated to teach the minor a lesson when he knew that he lacked the authority to punish the child,’ the family wrote in their own motion urging the judge not to accept the motion to dismiss.

‘Furthermore, all material actions occurred when the court was not in session.’

The filing goes on to note that Goodman ‘was not a party to litigation and did not engage the judge or his officers in any judicial capacity.

‘She was a guest at a speaking engagement, where the lecturer happened to be the judge,’ it says.

A hearing on the motion has been scheduled for January.