Detroit Judge Punishes Sleepy Teenager, Gets Removed from Bench

A Detroit Judge has been removed from the bench and ordered to take “necessary training” after he punished a teenager for falling asleep in court. Latoreya Till, whose teenage daughter nodded off, described Judge Kenneth King as a “big bully” and said her daughter is terrified and “hurt” by his actions. The girl was in court on a field trip with the environmental group, The Greening of Detroit, when she fell asleep. Judge King then ordered her to wear prison clothing and handcuffs as punishment. 

The judge later told reporters that it was her attitude, rather than drowsiness, that prompted him to take such drastic action. “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. 

William McConico, the chief judge at 36th District Court, said King would undergo training to address “the underlying issues” that caused him to punish the 15-year-old student. He added that Judge King’s conduct did not reflect the court’s commitment to pursuing justice “in an environment free from intimidation or disrespect.” 

Witnesses from inside the court described the incident. Judge King reportedly noted the girl dozing off and summoned her before the bench. “You sleep at home in your bed, not in court,” he told her, before threatening to send her to prison. He justified the action, saying it was his “version of Scared Straight.” 

Scared Straight was a 1978 TV documentary that saw young people interact with prisoners serving life sentences at Rahway State Prison, New Jersey. The teenagers were involved in petty crime, and documentary makers believed meeting people who would spend their lives in jail would frighten them away from committing more serious offenses. Records show that most of the teenagers did not go on to serve lengthy prison sentences, but one participant, Angelo Speziale, was convicted of rape and murder and jailed for 25 years for a crime he committed just four years after he took part in Scared Straight. 

At the end of the program, most of the wayward teenagers promised to stay on the right side of the law.