Board Recommends Suspension For Judge Wade McCree
DETROIT (WWJ) - The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission is recommending that Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade McCree be suspended without pay for a period of six years.
A ruling released Monday by the commission states that McCree committed misconduct when he carried on a romantic relationship with a woman who had a case before him.
McCree was under investigation and suspended in February after his extramarital affair came to light.
According to a complaint, Genine Le'Shay Mott, who came to McCree's courtroom seeking child support in 2012, had sex with McCree at various locations — including McCree's judicial chambers.
The complaint also details multiple inappropriate, and sometimes sexually explicit, text messages that McCree sent to Mott from the bench.
"During his relationship with Mott, Respondent used his chambers to engage in sexual intercourse with Mott, permitted Mott to enter the courthouse through an employee entrance without going through security, allowed Mott to remain alone in his chambers while he was on the bench, arranged for Mott to park her vehicle in an area reserved for judges, and brought Mott's cell phone into the courthouse for her, in violation of the court's security policy, so that she could communicate with him while he was on the bench," the ruling states.
The commission found that rather than immediately recusing himself from the cases, McCree took steps to "maintain the secrecy of his relationship."
The commission also recommends McCree pay $11,945 in court costs.
McCree's attorney, Brian Einhorn, said his client is a good guy who admits he did the wrong thing.
The Michigan Supreme Court will make a final decision on McCree's punishment. If approved, the suspension would take effect Jan. 1, 2015, if McCree is re-elected in Nov. 2014.
The commission's ruling comes after McCree made headlines last year when he sent a semi-nude photo to a court staffer and told a reporter: "No shame in my game."
McCree is the son of the late Wade Hampton McCree, Jr., notable as the first African-American appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit and the second African-American Solicitor General in U.S. history.
