In a switch from the prior week, an embattled Oakland County judge opted Tuesday, June 17, to grant motions to recuse herself from cases involving the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.
Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig of 52-4 District Court in Troy on Tuesday granted numerous requests from prosecutors to step away from her cases as she faces a rare, public complaint from the state body tasked with investigating judicial misconduct. Both the prosecutor’s office and the county public information officer confirmed Hartig’s maneuver in granting the motions.
Among the allegations against her in the complaint, Hartig is accused of improperly dismissing cases with prejudice, so they cannot be brought again, because of a grudge with the prosecutor’s office tied to scheduling. A spokesperson for Hartig has called the process that led to the complaint “flawed.”
52-4 District Court Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig
Previously, Hartig denied multiple motions from the prosecutor’s office to recuse herself from cases, even as she heard the chief judge had begun overruling her on appeal.
On June 10, Assistant Prosecutor Bob Zivian repeatedly made a statement as prosecutor cases were called in Hartig’s Troy courtroom. He said that, as “everyone” in the courtroom knew, the Judicial Tenure Commission issued a complaint, that Hartig’s former and current chief judges were among the complainants who could testify against her, and that it was clear his office could not get a fair hearing in the courtroom.
Hartig denied Zivian’s requests, saying that the prosecutor’s office was aware of the oversight investigation before the formal complaint was issued. She said there had been no problems or concerns raised, and that the only change was the public nature of the complaint against her.
She also said those in the prosecutor’s office made grievances against her and that she made attorney grievances against them in recent years, but that she was unaware of where her attorney grievances stood.
More: Authority got psych report saying Oakland Judge Hartig was ‘unsafe to practice’ months ago
More: Complaint: Oakland County Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig created ‘climate of fear’
Amid the exchange, Zivian said there were aspects of the public complaint that his office was not aware of before.
He stepped away several times, later reporting the chief judge granted the recusal on appeal in two cases. Hartig and Zivian then went case by case, repeating the motion and the denial but adjourning the cases so Zivian could handle the appeals later.
Ultimately, Chief Judge Travis Reeds granted eight recusals on appeal that week, said Bill Mullan, public information officer for Oakland County.
Then Tuesday, Hartig opted to grant the motions from the prosecutor’s office herself.
She’d done so on 17 cases as of about 4 p.m., Mullan said.
A spokesperson for the judge, Daniel Cherrin of Royal Oak-based public affairs and communications firm North Coast Strategies, declined to comment on the week-over-week change.
Hartig has patiently waited for the chance to address the allegations against her, he said in a prior statement.
Beyond the allegations that she improperly dismissed cases, Hartig is accused of creating a “climate of fear” among staff at her courthouse and failing to promptly turn over a report that deemed her “‘unsafe to practice’ due to disruptive behavior and personality dysfunction” as of a May 2024 psychological exam. What was deemed at risk was not immediately clear.
Hartig has 14 days after being served the complaint to file a formal answer.
She was ordered to take only new civil, landlord-tenant and small claims cases as of late May.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Oakland County Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig recuses herself from cases