Judge Lisa Gorcyca
Oakland County Circuit Judge Lisa Gorcyca is on the hot seat.
You might recall Gorcyca was the judge who appeared to be arrogant and disrespectful during proceedings involving three children from Bloomfied Hills who refused to spend time with their estranged father. She ended up sending the kids of Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni and Omer Tsimhoni, now 14, 11 and 10, to a juvenile detention center for a while, with hopes they'd change their mind.
Now, Gorcyca faces a disciplinary hearing before the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission for her behavior. The commission filed a complaint against her December, saying she poorly handled the bitter custody battle and "failed to act in a patient, dignified and courteous manner," "used a raised and/or angry voice," and "laughed at the children and was sarcastic," the Detroit Free Press reports
Elisha Anderson of the Detroit Free Press reports that Margaret Rynier, associate examiner with the tenure Commission, referred to a video of the judge played in court during proceedings against Gorcyca:
“The tape shows an incredible misuse of her judicial power, and her behavior and what she did and what she said and how she did it and how she said it to those three minor children."
Thomas Cranmer, Gorcyca's attorney, argued there is important context to the judge’s actions.
“Did there come a point in time when Judge Gorcyca perhaps was a little bit irritated, perhaps was a little frustrated, perhaps had gotten to a point where she had no other tools left in the toolbox after exhausting every other opportunity for the children to simply obey her orders? Yeah I think so," Cranmer said. "But that cannot be and that wasn’t and that isn’t judicial misconduct.”
