Detroit judge’s decisions probed by prosecutor, worrying he ‘made up some law’

Detroit — Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy launched an investigation into the docket of 36th District Judge Ronald Giles in October, directing her staff to review cases the judge had dismissed, along with instances in which he acted outside the law or “made up some law,” according to two emails obtained by The Detroit News.

“I want to see every, single Judge Giles dismissal going back (to) January of this year sent to me as soon as possible,” Worthy wrote in an Oct. 6 officewide message.

Worthy sent a follow-up directive on Oct. 8: “Thank you for the huge response concerning Judge Giles’ cases. Please send cases also where he did not follow the law or made up some ‘law.’”

“Please continue to document and send,” the second memo instructed. “If any dismissal memos need to be updated, please do so now. Any case — ‘big’ or ‘small’ — because, obviously, all of our cases are extremely important to our victims and survivors.”

It’s unclear how long the review into Giles’ cases lasted, or whether it’s still ongoing. When asked about the memo, Worthy replied in a statement: “It is an internal email that was not meant for public consumption to address a serious issue. I will have no public comment.”

Giles didn’t respond to a phone call request for comment, and Chief 36th District Judge William McConnico did not return a text message and phone call seeking comment.

The state court administrator said it’s within Worthy’s authority to review a judge’s record.

“The Prosecutor, like all court users, can request file information as a part of their preparation and/or review process,” State Court Administrator Tom Boyd said in an email. “We have no information that suggests this activity is inconsistent with such objectives.”

Andre Ash, the victim in a case handled by Giles, said he wasn’t surprised to learn of the Worthy investigation.

Ash said a Wayne County assistant prosecutor warned him that Giles had a propensity for “excusing a lot of cases” when the 61-year-old Detroit resident prepared to face his alleged attacker during court proceedings in October and November.

Latest court case controversy

Ash said he had just finished his security rounds at the Regency Tower apartments on Chene on Detroit’s east side on Oct. 23 when a man attempted to enter the building without authorization.

The man, 44-year-old Marcus Shamily, became irate when questioned and produced a knife, Ash said.

“I told him, ‘This isn’t going to go how you think it’s going to go with that knife,” said Ash, a lifelong Detroiter who said he has had martial arts training and has fended off knife attacks before.

The two men clashed, and Ash said Shamily got on top of him. During the struggle, Ash was stabbed several times in the hand, although he said he wrestled away the knife and cut his alleged attacker multiple times.

“When the police showed up, they saw all that blood — it was his blood,” said Ash of the alleged attack that was captured on surveillance video.

Shamily was charged with assault with intent to murder, which carries up to life in prison; assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder, punishable by up to 10 years in prison; and felonious assault, which carries up to four years in prison.

During Shamily’s Nov. 14 preliminary examination in 36th District Court, Giles dismissed the most serious charge and bound the defendant over for trial on the other two allegations.

Shamily’s attorney, Rene Cooper, didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Ash said he was surprised by the judge’s treatment of him during his testimony.

“I wasn’t prepared for what he said to me when we first went to court,” Ash said of Giles. “He acted like I was lying; I felt like he was blaming me.”

Ash said he was “shocked” to learn that Giles dismissed the assault with intent to murder charge against Shamily.

“If you look at the video, I don’t see how you can see it any other way — (Shamily) tried to kill me,” Ash said.

In 2017, Shamily pleaded guilty to domestic violence, third offense, and was sentenced to probation. He violated the terms of his probation in 2018, court records show, but his probation was continued, ending in September 2020.

In Shamily’s latest court case, a Feb. 6 final conference hearing is scheduled before Wayne County Circuit Judge Shannon Walker.

Ash said he’s still hoping for justice, but he remains unhappy about how Giles handled his case.

“To me, it’s shocking that this judge still has a job,” Ash said.

The prosecutor’s office is appealing the ruling to dismiss the assault with intent to murder charge, arguing the judge abused his discretion, Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller said. The motion will be argued before Judge Walker on Friday, Miller said.

Dismissals panned

Worthy has criticized other judges for dismissing cases.

In December, after Wayne Circuit Judge Cylenthia LaToye Miller dismissed felony murder and first-degree murder charges against defendant Charles Evans, Worthy said the judge should’ve recused herself. The defendant’s attorney worked for the Perkins Law Group, which represented Miller when she was charged with bringing a loaded, unregistered pistol through a security checkpoint at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport.

“Based on this obvious conflict of interest (unknown to the assistant prosecutor at the outset of the trial), Judge Miller should have recused herself from the case,” prosecutors said in a December statement. “Judge Miller dismissed the case, erroneously, citing a discovery violation … (the prosecutor’s office contends that there was no violation, and that the judge failed to follow the law.”

In 2022, Worthy told The News she was “disturbed” by unnamed judges’ bond decisions. When former Michigan State University basketball star Mateen Cleaves was charged in 2016 with sexual assault, charges for which he was acquitted, Worthy was critical of how a Genesee County district court handled the case.

Other cases dismissed by Giles in recent years include:

• In May, Giles dismissed all charges, including attempted murder, against Robert Pugh, who was accused of shooting an autistic teenager outside his house in April. The judge dismissed the charges after the defendant’s attorney said the alleged video of the shooting did not show her client. Prosecutors replied that the issue should have been discussed at trial.
• Giles in 2024 dismissed charges against graffiti artist Bryan Herrin, who was accused of spray painting the silhouette of Beavis from the TV show “Beavis and Butt-Head” throughout Detroit. The judge ruled there was not enough evidence to proceed with the case and dismissed six counts of felony malicious destruction of property, which carries a penalty of four years in prison, against the artist, who is known by the moniker BVIS.
• In 2017, following nearly three years of legal proceedings, Giles dropped charges against the “Homrich 9,” a group of activists who blocked trucks from conducting water shutoffs in Detroit. Giles said he dismissed the charges due to the lack of a speedy trial, court records show.
• Giles dropped murder charges against Deangelo Dukes, who was accused in the 2019 shooting death of a 62-year-old Arthur Boyle on Detroit’s east side due to “insufficient evidence,” court records show. After dismissing the charges of felony murder, three counts of felony firearm, one count of being a felon in possession of a weapon and one count of first-degree home invasion, Giles bound Dukes over on charges of unlawful driving away of an automobile and intent to pass false title. Dukes was given probation, which he violated in June 2019 — three months after Giles dismissed the most serious charges against him.

History of issues

Worthy’s call for an investigation isn’t the first time the prosecutor has had an issue with Giles, a 36th District Court judge since 2006. After former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was charged in 2008 with perjury, conspiracy, misconduct in office and obstruction of justice, Worthy unsuccessfully sought to have Giles and other 36th District Court judges recuse themselves, arguing the case up to the Michigan Supreme Court.

Worthy argued that Giles and the other judges on the court should be barred from hearing Kilpatrick’s trial because they were too politically connected to Kilpatrick. Giles contributed to Kilpatrick’s election campaign and hosted the mayor as a houseguest at his daughter’s high school graduation party.

But in August 2008, Giles ordered Kilpatrick to spend a night in the Wayne County Jail for violating the travel restriction of his bond by crossing the Detroit River to Windsor without notifying the judge.

“If it was not Kwame Kilpatricksitting in that seat, if it was John Six-Packsitting in the seat, what would I do?” Giles asked the mayor before revoking his bond and sending him to jail — the first time a sitting Detroit mayor had been locked behind bars in his own city.

Kilpatrick pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice in September 2008, and Wayne County Circuit Judge David Groner sentenced the ex-mayor to four months in jail. Kilpatrick, in 2013, was sentenced to 28 years in prison after he was convicted in federal court of multiple offenses, including conspiracy, extortion and mail fraud. President Donald Trump commuted the sentence in 2021.

ghunter@detroitnews.com

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@GeorgeHunter_DN

Staff Writer Craig Mauger contributed.