Judge Wade H. McCree in hot water over steamy cell-phone photo

Judge Wade H. McCree in hot water over steamy cell-phone photo


7:47 PM, April 24, 2012


 A curtain of silence has descended around partially disrobed Wayne County Circuit Judge Wade H. McCree, who admitted on television that he sent a beefcake cell-phone photo of himself.

“No shame in my game,” McCree told WJBK-Fox (Channel 2) reporter Charlie LeDuff when asked about the picture, reportedly sent to a married female courtroom employee, showing the smiling, bare-torso McCree snapping a cell-phone photo in what appears to be a bathroom mirror.

But there may be a complaint with the Judicial Tenure Commission that could cost him his seat on the bench. Complaints with the state’s judicial watchdogs are confidential by law unless an investigation finds enough evidence to support a formal public charge of misconduct.

“I can’t say if there is or isn’t a complaint,” said Paul J. Fischer, the commission’s executive director and general counsel.

McCree was chatty on the Fox2 video, but he didn’t return calls Tuesday to his court or his Detroit home. His courtroom at the Frank Murphy Hall of Justice was locked Tuesday afternoon, and he did not respond to an e-mail inquiry. Chief Judge Virgil Smith did not take calls about McCree and referred questions to the court’s general counsel Elizabeth Kocab, who also was mum on the picture.

“We understand from the video that the husband of the employee made a complaint to the Judicial Tenure Commission, so we can’t make any comment at this time,” Kocab said.

The state Supreme Court also declined to comment because judicial disciplinary cases could come before it.

The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office said it had gotten no complaints about the photos and declined to discussion the situation further.

University of Detroit Mercy law professor Larry Dubin, an expert in legal ethics, said that the picture — even if it didn’t go below the waist — runs way afoul of the state’s Code of Judicial Conduct and state court rules.

“You’ve got Canons 1, 2 and 3 in play here,” Dubin said. “And there’s a whole slew of potential court rule violations.”

Canon 1 says judges should main “high standards of conduct” to preserve the court’s dignity.


Canon 2 tells judges they “must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety.” That canon also says judges must expect and endure greater public scrutiny, as well as limits on their conduct, because of their position.


Judges, says Canon 3, also need to be “patient, dignified and courteous” to everyone they meet in an official capacity, including the court staff “and others subject to the judge’s direction and control.”

“This is not a wise thing for a judge to do,” Dubin said.

In the broadcast video, McCree scoffed at any photographic flap, saying there was more exposure at a YMCA swimming pool.

The uproar comes just days after McCree — on behalf of his family and late father, Wade McCree Jr. — presented the State Bar of Michigan’s Advancement of Justice journalism awards at an East Lansing ceremony on Sunday. The local federal court bar association also presents an award for advancing social justice in the name of the elder McCree, who was a state and federal judge, in addition to serving as the U.S. Solicitor General and a University of Michigan law professor.

A civil law suit for harassment might find little traction if the reported picture is the only incident, because the law speaks in terms of persistent and unwelcome conduct, according to employment law experts.

McCree was appointed to the 36th District Court bench in 1996 by Gov. John Engler, and to the circuit court by Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2004 to fill a vacancy. He was elected in 2006 to the remainder of the term and then was elected in 2008 for a full six-year term.

Contact Joe Swickard: 313-222-8769 or jswickard@freepress.com


http://www.freep.com/article/20120424/NEWS02/120424076/Judge-Wade-H-McCree-hot-water-over-bathroom-beefcake-photo

Editor's note:“A person who had a high position of authority should be held to a higher standard,” The judges of the Probate Court of Cook county, who are in "bed" with probate lawyers, nursing homes and case management companies should take heed of this quote. Lucius Verenus, Schoolmaster, ProbateSharks.com

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