Judge Bruce Morrow of Wayne County, Michigan, is facing an ethics complaint, released last week by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission, which accuses the judge of violating judicial canons requiring judges be dignified and courteous and treat others with respect. The complaint details interactions with an assistant district attorney who asked the judge for feedback regarding her direct examination, in which he used sexually graphic language.
According to reports, during a June 2019 trial, the assistant prosecutor asked for feedback on her questioning of a medical examiner. Morrow allegedly said he’d come down from the bench to have the conversation “because what he was going to say to her would make her ‘blush.’” The complaint says the judge “positioned himself very close” to the prosecutor. He then analogized questioning witnesses to sex, according to the complaint:
“The climax of sex is akin to getting the medical examiner to state the cause and manner of death after getting the details of his examination of the body. … You start with all the information from the report, all the testimony crescendos to the cause and manner of death, which is the sex of the testimony. … You want to tease the jury with the details of the examination. … You want to lead them to the climax of the manner and cause of death.”
But that’s not the only inappropriate behavior detailed in the ethics complaint. Morrow also allegedly discussed with the assistant prosecutor, another assistant prosecutor, and defense counsel DNA evidence in the case which revealed the defendant’s DNA in a vaginal swab of the deceased victim, saying, “All you did was show they f- – -ed!”
When discussing the defendant’s testimony that the way he had sex with the victim was altered because she was pregnant and the defendant said he didn’t want to hurt the baby, Morrow allegedly said words to the effect of, “This guy must feel real good about himself to think his d- – – is that big.”
Morrow is also accused of criticism of the other assistant prosector’s voir dire with vulgar language to the effect of:
“If I want to have sex with a woman on the first date, how would I figure that out? I wouldn’t ask her if she wants family or children or what she does. I would ask her, ‘Have you had sex on a first date before?’ Would you sleep with me on a first date?”
According to the complaint, Morrow also “was overtly eyeing both of [the assistant prosectors’] bodies,” and asking them their height and weight. When one of them responded he allegedly said, “Well, I haven’t assessed your muscle mass yet.”