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Detective Sean Furlong and the judge who called him 37 times during the double killing investigation and trial. (WXYZ image)
An affair between a Livingston County judge and a Michigan State Police detective could derail a 2013 double murder conviction and result in a new trial.
Days before the 2013 trial, attorney Thomas Kizer wanted 53rd District Court Judge Theresa M. Brennan of Brighton to recuse herself, alleging that she had "more than a casual inadvertent contact with witnesses" in the case, including the lead state police detective, Sean Furlong, report John Wisely and Lisa Roose-Church in the Detroit Free Press.
Jerome Kowalski, now 70, was sentenced in May 2013 to life in prison for the 2008 murder of his brother and sister-in-law in their Oceola Township home.
Judge Theresa Brennan (53rd District Court photo)
Four years later, the intimate relations resurface in a divorce suit by the Brightom judge's estranged husband, Donald Root. He has the same attorney, Kizer.
The judge and detective admit the affair under oath during depositions. They insist it started after the trial, but 37 calls from the judge to the lawman-lover during trial time raise ethics questions, to put it mildly.
A March court filing by Kizer say the calls show “evidence of the affair” earlier than they admit, “a violation of judicial duty,” Jim Kiertzner of WXYZ reported then The attorney's motion asked for sanctions against the Libvingston Brightjudge in the divorce case, and that depositions and other discovery evidence be unsealed to the public.
Michigan State Police investigators on May 3 took computers from Brennan's chambers on North First Street in Brighton and also searched her home for evidence. The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission also is investigating.
