I find this case to be of particular interest simply for the fact that it reminds me of another Michigan Judicial situation where
Judge Vonda Evans steps down from the bench.
Are there similarities in the cases in dealing with a breach of public trust in office and witness tampering, while failing to disclose personal relationships during a murder trial?
Possibly.
Could there be parallels in comparing a divorce of a public official, where a party to the case was granted an order of protection of any and all electronic devices of the marriage, the household, but ended up deleting emails, and chats, and fake social media accounts,
after, the order was granted?
There is a likelihood.
Were there preceding, investigations from another law enforcement jurisdiction into the activities of the destruction of evidence, during the course of the divorces?
I am going to go with a strong,
"Yes."
 |
from the JTC hearing on Monday March 4, 2019 where
Judge Theresa Brennan listens to oral arguments. |
Livingston County District Court Judge Theresa Brennan may face an additional perjury charge after prosecutors from the Michigan Attorney General's office raised the issue during a preliminary hearing Thursday.
Brennan currently faces one count of perjury, tampering with evidence and a common law offense after failing to recuse herself immediately from her own divorce case and allegedly using the delay to dispose of evidence.
Witnesses testify in the preliminary hearing for Judge Theresa Brennan. Gillis Benedict, Livingston Daily
The Attorney General's office charged her with perjury last year alleging she gave false testimony during her divorce deposition about a cell phone that was considered a marital asset.
Assistant Attorney General William Rollstin said Thursday his office hopes to add a second perjury charge related to alleged false testimony Brennan gave during the Judicial Tenure Commission hearing last fall.
Rollstin did not specify what testimony he was referring to.
Thursday's hearing was adjourned after four hours of testimony and will continue on April 11 in Livingston County.
Charges surrounding cell phone
Brennan's now ex-husband Donald Root filed for divorce on Dec. 3, 2016. Three days later Tom Kizer, Root's attorney, filed a motion to preserve evidence, including phone data.
The court did not receive Brennan's order of disqualification until Dec. 8, two days after the motion was filed, the same day her cell phone had been reset to factory settings according to a Michigan State Police Sergeant.
Michigan State Police Detective Sergeant David Vergison testified the forensic exam of Brennan's marital phone showed the device had been reset to factory settings on Dec. 8, 2016 at 1:16 p.m.
Michigan State Police began a criminal investigation in the spring of 2017, executing search warrants at her county office and her home.
In an affidavit filed in support of the warrant request, state police Detective Sgt. Brian Reece said the phone was an iPhone 6 provided to her by her then-husband Don Root's company and that evidence on that phone was destroyed.
Brennan testified last year that she doesn't believe she did anything wrong concerning her cell phone.
"So, at a time when a motion to preserve evidence was filed in your court, you felt okay deleting information from one of the pieces of evidence covered in the motion?" Judicial Tenure Commission Executive Director Lynn Helland asked, during an evidentiary hearing in October.
"I did," Brennan said.
"In Michigan, it is a crime to alter evidence in an official proceeding, do you know that?" Helland asked. "How would deleting information from your phone when it is under a motion to preserve evidence be following the law?"
"You (Helland) and I are going to have to agree to disagree," she said. "I don't believe I committed a crime. I don't think I destroyed evidence."
In her 2017 divorce deposition, Brennan said she did not take any steps to reset her phone. When asked by Kizer if she had made any effort to have the phone wiped or have apps removed, she said, "No, I never had all my apps go off my phone."
Last year, Brennan testified she had the phone reset to factory settings while buying a new one so she could return the original phone to her husband. She said the information on the old phone was transferred to the new one.
Brennan attributed the change in her testimony from the divorce deposition to the fact she "did not want to make Kizer's job easy."
Tampering with evidence
Brennan's former court reporter Felicia Milhouse testified Thursday that she was asked to remove an email account from the judge's phone.
She said she was asked by Brennan to leave the courtroom while court was in session. Milhouse said she used her county computer to conduct a search on how to remove the judge's email account from her phone.
She was ultimately unsuccessful and said she gave the phone back to Brennan.
At some point in the following days, Brennan purchased a new cell phone and had the old one reset to factory settings.
Future proceedings
Brennan hasn’t been on the bench since June, after Livingston County Chief Judge Miriam Cavanaugh removed her from her docket.
She was suspended earlier this year but is still being paid as a wide-ranging misconduct investigation by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission plays out.
The Supreme Court is expected to determine the validity of the agency’s complaint against Brennan. The criminal case is separate from the Judicial Tenure Commission inquiry and narrower in scope.
Brennan is accused of destroying or tampering with evidence in a Circuit Court case and using her office to enable her to destroy evidence, according to the affidavit released by Attorney General Bill Schuette's office.
She faces up to 15 years in prison on the perjury charge, while the charge of tampering or destroying evidence is punishable by up to four years in and the charge of common law offenses is punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
Media access
Genessee County District Court Judge David Guinn banned journalists from taking photographs or using social media during the hearing.
Guinn informed media through a court bailiff that he would not allow photographs or the use of Twitter to document the criminal hearing for embattled Livingston County District Court Judge Theresa Brennan. He did consent to video recordings that could be used after the hearing concludes.
Brennan was charged in December with perjury and two other felonies by former Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette. Guinn was appointed by the State Court Administrative Office to hear the case.
The Livingston Daily submitted a request for photography and video and use of social media nearly two weeks ago. He did not address it until Thursday.
A Livingston Daily reporter who identified herself as a credentialed journalist objected to his ruling, raising the issue of whether it amounted to special treatment for an embattled public official.
Guinn asked the reporter whether she was an attorney and then said he wasn't treating the Brennan case differently from any other. Michigan courts routinely allow still photography and many have adapted to the growth of social media.
STATE OF MICHIGAN BEFORE TH... by on Scribd
Voting is beautiful, be beautiful ~ vote.©
