Ethics Trial Looms for Suspended Judge re Claimed $130K Shortfall, 'Excessively Long Lunches'
A suspended Michigan judge who has been accused of misapplying some $130,000 in public funds and making false reports to cover up her excessive absenteeism is facing a judicial ethics trial next week.
22nd District Judge Sylvia James, who has served as Inkster’s only district judge for more than 20 years, is accused of using court money as a “personal slush fund” and taking, as a complaint put it, “excessively long lunches, resulting in cases being delayed and not disposed of in a timely manner,” according to the Detroit News and WXYZ, a local ABC affiliate.
The articles don’t include any comment from James, who has not been criminally charged.
Her ethics case is scheduled to be tried next week by the Judicial Tenure Commission.
A WXYZ page provides links to a number of earlier articles. They say James resisted refused to account for court funds owed to the city of Inkster and resisted an audit until the station pushed for answers.
