Oakland County judge calls himself ‘new racist’ and uses gay slur

An Oakland County Probate Court judge who was removed from office last week for “unprofessional conduct” made a series of comments about black people and used a homosexual slur before her removal, according to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News. She used at least two such slurs against Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter before her removal.

The six recordings, verified Thursday by Coulter’s office and Oakland County Board Chairman David Woodward as the voice of Probate Court Judge Kathleen Ryan, include graphic statements about Coulter, who is gay, and describe black people in the United States as “lazy.”

The recordings are now tied to a state investigation into Ryan’s judicial misconduct, Coulter spokesman Bill Mullan said Thursday. Ryan, who was removed from the registry Aug. 27, will remain on leave by order of the chief judge of Oakland County Probate Court until the Judicial Tenure Commission’s investigation is complete, Mullan said.

It is not clear when the recordings, which last about a minute in total, were made or whether Ryan consented to being recorded.

Ryan did not respond to a request for comment Thursday evening and her attorneys could not immediately be reached.

Probate Court Administrator Edward Hutton declined to comment on Ryan’s removal, but told WXYZ-TV (Channel 7) in a story published Thursday that he was the one who recorded the audio of the judge and filed a complaint of sexual harassment against Ryan. He also said he sent the recordings to Michigan Supreme Court Chief Judge Elizabeth Clement, Coulter and other public officials on Aug. 22, months after he sent Oakland County Probate Court Chief Judge Linda Hallmark a sexual harassment complaint, and nothing happened.

“I just want to make things right,” Hutton told WXYZ. “I didn’t file a lawsuit. I’m not looking for a paycheck. I want to keep my job and do this in peace. And I want the people of Oakland County who come to court to be given a fair chance to be able to stand trial, to have an impartial judge.”

Hallmark said that when Hutton reported the sexual harassment to her in May, she immediately contacted the state court administrator’s office and the county. He did not provide her with any of the recordings until last week, she said, when she removed Ryan from her records. She said Hutton sent the recordings without her knowledge.

“As soon as I heard the tapes, I took immediate action,” Hallmark said.

She did not want to comment on the recordings, only saying they were “obviously disturbing.”

In the recordings, Ryan can be heard calling Coulter a gay slur and telling him to “stick it up your f–…

The recordings were short and did not provide any context for the rest of the conversation. It is unclear where or when they were recorded.

In the audio recording, Ryan can be heard saying that “as far as I’m concerned, (Coulter) is a skinny white girl.”

Ryan also commented that black people from countries other than the US are superior and that “if you’re a black American, you’re a f—— lazy piece of shit.”

“Like I said before, I wasn’t a racist before. I f—— f—, now I am,” Ryan said. “I really f—– now I am. I’m not a systemic racist, I’m a new racist. I never was, but now I am because you’re shoving this sh— down my throat, making accusations you have no idea about. You’re telling me who I am and you’ve never met me.”

A probate court judge also said another person was “a f**king loser, he’s an asshole. I have no use for him.”

“There is absolutely no place for harassment of any kind or racist or homophobic comments by anyone in Oakland County, especially someone the public must be able to trust to act fairly and impartially,” Coulter said in a statement. “Judge Ryan’s alleged conduct and abhorrent comments warranted her removal from the Probate Court docket pending further investigation. I am confident that the agencies investigating this matter will treat it with the seriousness it deserves and will take further action if warranted.”

Woodward, the board chairman, said that if what Ryan said in the video is true, she “needs to do the right thing and spare the residents of Oakland County the embarrassment and resign immediately.”

“I cannot express enough the disappointment and disgust I felt after listening to (the recordings),” Woodward said. “In sum, this type of hate speech disgraces the black robe, corrupts blind justice and costs the public confidence in our judicial system.”

Judicial Tenure Commission Executive Director Lynn Hellend declined to confirm whether an investigation had been launched into Ryan. The commission investigates judicial misconduct inside or outside the office, and most cases are handled confidentially within the commission. It is rare for judges to be removed, especially before their cases are resolved.

According to the JTC website, Ryan has not previously had any public complaints with the Judicial Tenure Commission.

Ryan has served on the Oakland County Circuit Court since 2010. She is running unopposed in 2022, and the next election will be in 2028.

Ryan was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence in 2021, but the case was dismissed in March 2022. The Oakland County Attorney’s Office did not respond to a request for comment on why the case was dismissed.

[email protected]