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Get set to be angry for multiple reasons about this audacious wrongness.
Fox 2 reporter Rob Wolchek reports on a 2016 Detroit election winner who earns $138,000 a year, but hasn't been on the job yet. In the video below, he calls it "the case of the no-show judge."
Kahlilia Davis did show up at 36th District Court for a December swearing-in and robing ceremony, when she posed (right) in a judicial robe that she hasn't worn again.
Judge Kahilia Davis at her chambers in December. She now says: "I've had surgery. I have an infection. I have an open wound." (Facebook photo)
First, the broadcaster says, the newcomer "asked the court if she could take the start of her term off so she could take a trip to Germany." The investigative journalist adds:
Chief Judge Nancy Blount denied the vacation request. Then, Davis informed the chief judge she'd had surgery and wouldn't be able to attend court.
And even though there's a docket full of cases for her to hear every day, Judge Davis has never showed up to hear a single one.
Fox 2 watched the judge on days when she had court cases. . . . She went to Sam's Club, went to the credit union and the gym.
One day we were surprised to follow her to the 36th District Courthouse. . . . She went in for a few minutes and came out. The date? Feb. 15 -- payday.
Davis hasn't documented the reason for her nine-week absence, says Chief Judge Blount, who mailed several requests. "I do not have a satisfactory statement from her doctor as to why she has been unable to work," the administrative judge says.
Since Jan. 1, Davis has been paid $23,884 despite not presiding over any cases,
Wolchck spoke twice with the no-show jurist -- briefly on the sidewalk outside her home, then later at his station.
At curbside, Davis tells why she's not working:
"Because I've had surgery. I have an infection. I have an open wound, so if you want Staph infection all over the courthouse, you might [get] that."
In an off-camera follow-up, Wolchek says:
She told me Chief Judge Nancy Blount was involved in "retaliatory harassment" of her. Davis defeated her step-grandson in the election. . . .
She showed me nothing that appeared to support that theory.
In a statement to the station, Blount writes:
"As chief judge of the 36th District Court, I am required to monitor judicial attendance. Judge Kahlilia Davis was elected to our court in November of 2016 and her term began on January 1, 2017.
"I do not have a satisfactory statement from her doctor as to why she has been unable to work. The documentation is requested from any judge who will be absent from the court for an extended period of time.
"Any lengthy absence creates a hardship on the court and the public."
