Judge Brian MacKenzie
Novi District Judge Brian MacKenzie, accused by the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office of illegally dismissing domestic violence cases, has gone on the offensive as the primary election quickly approaches.
L.L. Braiser of the Detroit Free Press writes that MacKenzie, through his attorneys, claims in a court filing that county Prosecutor Jessica Cooper’s claims against him are “inaccurate and misleading” and that at least five cases she cites as illegal actually were handled by other Novi judges.
“Moreover the prosecutor is and has been aware of the facts that the affidavit is inaccurate and has made no effort to correct the misleading factual assertions,” MacKenzie states in his filing.
Braiser writes:
Cooper says MacKenzie is running a rogue court, quietly dismissing cases against defendants and sealing files by applying a domestic violence first-offender rule in instances that don’t qualify. MacKenzie, who faces challengers in Tuesday’s primary election, says any errors are clerical and that the attacks on him are politically motivated.
Oakland County Circuit Judge Colleen O’Brien began overseeing MacKenzie’s domestic violence cases after she reviewed MacKenzie’s docket at the prosecutor’s request and found numerous cases in which MacKenzie violated the law — sentencing those who appeared before him on domestic violence cases improperly. And she ordered that he turn over to the prosecutor’s office all of the domestic violence case files he’s handled since 2004.
Braiser reports that Cooper wants Judge O’Brien to find MacKenzie in contempt of court. Cooper is alleging that MacKenzie failed to disclose all of the domestic violence cases, including 33 her staff discovered.
Cooper tells the Freep that the five cases MacKenzie claims were handled by other judges were actually handled by him "at one point or another.”
The Freep reports that MacKenzie's filing says that in addition to the five cases incorrectly attributed to him, the remainder were handled properly.
