Judiciary
Judge accused of sexually harassing colleagues, showing up at courthouse after drinking alcohol
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Michigan’s Jackson County Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wilson in 2022. (Photo by J. Scott Park/The Jackson Citizen Patriot via the Associated Press)
Updated: A misconduct complaint accuses a Michigan judge of sexually harassing female colleagues, including by describing “his sexual activities” and expressing a long-time desire for sex with a fellow judge.
Judge Thomas D. Wilson of Jackson County is also accused of showing up at the courthouse after drinking alcohol; interfering in cases, including a case involving himself; failing to disclose conflicts of interest; and delaying decisions.
Law360, Bloomberg Law, CBS News and Click on Detroit have coverage of the Sept. 11 ethics complaint filed by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission.
Wilson, who has been a judge since January 2007, abused alcohol starting between 2013 and 2015 and extending to 2020 or 2021, according to the complaint. It also states that Wilson said under oath that during that period, he would sometimes leave the courthouse, consume alcohol at home, then return to the courthouse.
Others reported observing Wilson in public outside the courthouse “smelling of alcohol, looking disheveled or appearing flushed,” the complaint says.
The conduct commission says it asked Wilson to take an alcohol assessment in 2019 but he did not do so.
The case involving Wilson was his personal divorce. After a judge disqualified herself from the case, a draft order stated that Wilson owed a balance of $2,030 in child support. Wilson allegedly approached the judge who disqualified herself and asked her to sign an edited version of her transfer order with a zero child-support balance.
The undisclosed conflicts of interest involved attorneys who were tenants in a building Wilson owned; attorneys who co-owned properties with Wilson, and attorneys who represented him and relatives in various legal matters, the complaint says.
The complaint cites these instances of alleged sexual harassment.
• He described “sexual escapades” to females, telling one judge about a partner’s multiple orgasms and telling another he had to get his penis checked because it was so red.
• He told a female judge he knew she was pregnant because “her boobs were bigger.”
• He told a female judge that he had wanted to “f- – – [her] for a long time.”
• He told a prosecutor in the employee parking lot that she had nice legs. He also told her in her office that she looked as “hot” as she used to after losing a “ton” of weight.
Wilson’s administrative assistant told the ABA Journal he was directing all requests for comment to his lawyer, Thomas Cranmer of Miller Canfield.
Cranmer issued this statement to the Journal: “Judge Thomas Wilson is a respected and trusted jurist in Jackson County (Michigan). While it would be inappropriate for us to try this case in the media, we are looking forward to the hearing in this matter and clearing Judge Wilson’s name.”
Updated Sept. 19 at 9:15 a.m. to add Thomas Cranmer’s statement.
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