A special counsel appointed by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission says Oakland County Judge Lisa Gorcyca was guilty of misconduct when she held three children in contempt of court in a contentious custody case and sent them to juvenile detention after they refused to interacting with her estranged father.
The ruling, released this afternoon, found that Gorcyca “failed to establish, maintain, enforce and personally comply with high standards of conduct so that the integrity and independence of the judiciary can be preserved.” It also said she had failed to take “personal responsibility for her own conduct” in court, an apparent reference to allegations she lied about in her initial response to the Justice Commission inquiry.
The ruling comes following a trial in late May before a judge over complaints from the Judicial Tenure Commission that Gorcyca acted improperly during a June 24, 2015 hearing involving the three minor children of Omer Tsimhoni and Maya Eibschitz-Tsimhoni behavior was alleged.
The case attracted international media attention last summer when Gorcyca committed the three children, now ages 14, 11 and 10, to Mandy's Place, a facility within the Children's Village juvenile detention center, because they refused to participate in parenting time with their father . The complaint accused Gorcyca of speaking angrily and sarcastically to the children and misrepresenting the facts by telling the children they would be locked in prison cells and forced to go to the bathroom in front of others, possibly until they turned 18 years old.
She also once accused at least one of the children of engaging in cult-like behavior similar to the followers of notorious mass murderer Charles Manson, while twirling her finger to the side of her head.
The results will next be forwarded to the full Judicial Tenure Commission, which will decide whether to accept the results and submit them to the Michigan Supreme Court with a disciplinary recommendation. Gorcyca can also appeal the findings to the Supreme Court.
Wayne County District Judge Daniel Ryan, who was appointed to preside over the trial, sharply rebuked Gorcyca at the end of his ruling.
“Contrary to the chilling impact Judge Gorcyca claims, this case will have on judges across the state. This is not a case that argues that judges cannot use strong language in contentious cases or make difficult decisions from the bench. It is a disciplinary action.” Action that stands for the unique statement that if, after years of “frustration,” a judge wants to harness the inherent power of contempt, the ultimate “tool in the toolbox,” he may need to use the user manual “I would like to take advice to ensure that he does so or that he uses the tool properly before using one of the 34 penultimate tools of inherent judicial power, a contempt order, to deprive a person, or in this case children, of their liberty.”
Neither Gorcyca nor her attorney could immediately be reached by the Free Press for comment.
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