Caught on audio: Michigan judge called self a 'new racist,' used gay slurs

An Oakland County, Michigan, Probate Court judge who was removed from her docket last week for "unprofessional conduct" made a series of comments about Black people and used gay slurs, including at least two against Oakland County Executive Dave Coulter, before her removal, according to audio recordings obtained by The Detroit News.

The six recordings were verified Thursday by Coulter's office and Oakland County Board of Commissioners Chairman David Woodward as being the voice of Probate Court Judge Kathleen Ryan. They include graphic statements about Coulter, who is gay, and refer to Black people in the United States as "lazy."

The recordings are now connected to a state judicial misconduct investigation into Ryan, Coulter spokesman Bill Mullan said Thursday. Ryan, who was removed from her docket on Aug. 27, will remain on leave by order of the chief Oakland County Probate Court judge pending the outcome of a Judicial Tenure Commission investigation, Mullan said.

It's unclear when the recordings, which altogether last roughly a minute, were made or whether Ryan consented to be recorded.

Ryan did not respond Thursday night for comment, and her attorneys couldn't be immediately reached.

Probate Court Administrator Edward Hutton declined to comment on Ryan's removal but told WXYZ-TV for a story published Thursday that he is the one who recorded the audio of the judge and submitted a sexual harassment complaint against Ryan. He also said he sent the recordings to Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Elizabeth Clement, Coulter and other public officials on Aug. 22, months after he sent Oakland County Chief Probate Judge Linda Hallmark a notice of sexual harassment and nothing happened.

“I just want to make it right,” Hutton told WXYZ. “I haven't filed a lawsuit. I'm not looking for a payday. I want to keep my job and do it in peace. And I want the people in Oakland County that come to court to get a fair shake, to have their day in court, to have an unbiased trier of fact."

Hallmark said when Hutton reported the sexual harassment to her in May, she immediately contacted the State Court Administrator’s Office and the county. He did not give her any of the recordings until last week, she said, when she removed Ryan from her docket. She said Hutton sent the recordings out without her knowledge.

“As soon as I heard recordings, I took immediate action,” Hallmark said.

She declined to comment on the recordings other than noting they were “obviously troubling.”

In the recordings, Ryan can be heard calling Coulter a gay slur and telling him to "put that in your f------ a— and stuff it." She said Coulter was "more concerned about the f------ AIDS vaccinations."

The recordings were short and did not give any context for the rest of the conversation. It is unclear where or when they were recorded.

Ryan is heard in the audio saying that "as far as I’m concerned, (Coulter) is a skinny White girl."

Ryan also made a comment about how Black people from countries other than the U.S. are better and that "if you're an American Black person then you’re a f------ lazy piece of shit."

"Like I said before, I was not racist before. I f------ h---, I am now," Ryan said. "I really f----- am now. I’m not systemically racist, I’m a new racist. I never was, but now I am because you're shoving this s--- down my throat, making allegations that you don’t know s--- about. You’re telling me who I am and you’ve never met me."

The probate judge also said another person is a "fucking c---sucker, he’s a dick. I have no use for him."

“There is absolutely no place for harassment of any kind or for racist or homophobic language by anyone at Oakland County, especially by someone the public must be confident will act fairly and impartially," Coulter said in a statement. "The alleged conduct and abhorrent comments made by Judge Ryan merited her removal from the Probate Court docket pending further investigation. I have confidence that the agencies reviewing this matter will treat it with the seriousness it deserves and will take further action if warranted.”

Woodward, the board chairman, said if what Ryan said on the recording is true, she "needs to do the right thing and save the people of Oakland County the embarrassment and resign immediately."

"I can't express enough the disappointment and disgust I felt after hearing (the recordings)," Woodward said. "Bottom line, this type of hate speech dishonors the black robe, corrupts blind justice, and costs a loss of public trust in our judicial system."

Judicial Tenure Commission Executive Director Lynn Hellend has declined to confirm if there was an investigation into Ryan. The commission handles investigations into judicial misconduct on or off the bench, and most cases are handled confidentially within the commission. It is rare for judges to be removed in general, especially before their case is adjudicated.

Ryan does not have any previous public Judicial Tenure Commission complaints, according to the JTC website.

Ryan has been on the bench in Oakland County since 2010. She ran unopposed in 2022 and is next up for election in 2028.

Ryan was charged with misdemeanor domestic violence in 2021, but the case was dismissed in March 2022. The Oakland County Prosecutor's Office did not respond for comment on why the case was dismissed.

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