Detroit Judge Allegedly ‘Detained’ A 15-Year-Old Girl For Falling Asleep In His Courtroom During A School Field Trip
The teenager was left feeling humiliated and embarrassed by the entire ordeal, and is seeking compensation for it.
sirtravelalot | Shutterstock A Detroit judge is facing serious repercussions after attempting to discipline a high-school-aged girl for not paying attention in his courtroom.
Judge Kenneth King has legal action coming his way after 15-year-old Eva Goodman was humiliated and embarrassed in his courtroom for a trivial matter that caused King to retaliate in a move that ended up backfiring on him.
A judge allegedly 'detained' a 15-year-old girl for falling asleep in his courtroom during a school field trip.
On August 13, Goodman traveled to and attended King's courtroom as part of a field trip for a nonprofit group in Detroit that employed teens to plant trees throughout Detroit and taught them how to succeed in the workforce. According to Goodman's mother, Latoreya Till, the teenager didn't know about the trip ahead of time and had never been in a courtroom before.
Goodman sat with her peers as they watched a hearing related to a homicide charge. While watching the proceedings, Goodman was forced to relive a traumatic event that caused her to "shut down" and resulted in her falling asleep.
In between hearings, King spoke with the group of young people and, at one point, even took off his robe to give to a young man who was invited to sit in the judge's chair. It was during this interaction that King first noticed Goodman sleeping and yelled at her to wake up.
The 15-year-old woke up only to fall asleep again soon after, which is when the judge had her taken away.
Goodman later explained to her mother that the court staff asked her to take off her clothes and put on jail garments. Once she was placed in the jumpsuit, Goodman was led to an isolated holding cell while being handcuffed. There was a single camera in the room, but apart from that, she was all alone.
According to USA Today, about two hours after she was taken away, Goodman was brought back into the courtroom, where King proceeded to yell at her for being disrespectful and asked her if she wanted to spend more time in jail. A defense lawyer that King asked to represent Goodman told the judge that the teen was tired and didn't understand the severity of the situation.
Goodman fell asleep because she was unhoused along with the rest of her family.
Goodman's mother, Till, told the Detroit Free Press that her daughter didn't make it to bed until late the night before the courtroom field trip because their family is currently unhoused.
In the most recent report on homelessness for the city of Detroit, of the nearly 7000 reported individuals experiencing homelessness as of 2022, over 1300 were children of unhoused parents.
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To add insult to injury, the entire proceeding was filmed and live-streamed in a now-deleted YouTube video. King even convened a mock trial with a jury that included fellow students and threatened to send the teen to a juvenile detention center.
The entire ordeal left Goodman traumatized. In speaking at a news conference, according to NBC News, her mother, Till, said, "It's hard for her to sleep at night. She's asking me, 'Why did the judge do me like this, out of all the kids?'"
The family has since filed a lawsuit against the judge for violating her civil rights.
Both Goodman and her mother filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan against King. They alleged that he violated Goodman's civil rights, arguing King acted outside the scope of his judicial authority when he detained her, yelled at her, and threatened her with jail time.
"Subjecting a minor to such public humiliation and violating her rights is unconscionable," attorney James Harrington of Fieger Law, who is representing the family, told CBS News. "Our legal system is built on principles of fairness and respect for all individual rights, and those who violate those rights should be held accountable for their actions."
That kind of punishment or "joke," judging by the fact that Goodman probably wasn't going to be sent to jail, shouldn't have been done in the first place.
King was most likely unaware of Goodman's backstory and the real reason that she was falling asleep in his courtroom, but even then, subjecting a teenager to something like that was just plain reckless and immature. It violated her constitutional rights, and instead of showing just a smidge of empathy, he chose to put Goodman through something as traumatic as that.
The family is now seeking $75,000 for compensation relating to past, present, and future pain and suffering, medical expenses, including psychological and psychiatric treatment, exemplary damages, and attorney and expert witness fees.
Nia Tipton is a Chicago-based entertainment, news, and lifestyle writer whose work delves into modern-day issues and experiences.