Lately, much has been made of Bloomfield Township district court judge Kimberly Small and her policy of sentencing first time drunk driving offenders to jail.
Two Oakland County attorneys, Robert Larin and Kenneth Mogill, filed a motion in the 48th District Court asking for her to disqualify herself from future drunk driving cases in the court. [Freep.com]
Small, the motion says, is legislating from the bench and is creating mandatory jail time when Michigan law does not require it. Larin and Mogill argue that she should disqualify herself from hearing the cases because she has made public statements showing what they say is a deep bias on drunken-driving cases.
The motion is filed on behalf of one of Larin’s clients, Thomas Cygan, a 67-year-old West Bloomfield man who was recently arrested for the first time on charges of operating while intoxicated. The case is assigned to Small. …
Larin said he filed the motion “on behalf of anybody charged with a first offense at present, in the past, or in the future.”
“I have nothing against Judge Small, but it is time this matter is resolved in the courts,” he said.
The Michigan Lawyer 