by
District Judge Kirsten Nielsen
Oakland County Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig, who has a history of misconduct allegations, will be barred from hearing felony criminal cases beginning May 27, the Detroit Free Press reports.
Troy 52nd District Chief Judge Travis Reeds removed 52-4 District Judge Hartig from felony. Hartig, who was first elected to the bench in 2010, has repeatedly clashed with the Oakland County Prosecutor's Office, which prosecutes felony cases.
Dave Boucher of the Free Press reports:
Hartig has repeatedly clashed with Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald. In 2022, McDonald accused the judge of dismissing multiple criminal cases due to a scheduling dispute with prosecutors. In one appellate filing that year, prosecutors wrote that Hartig “has a long-standing practice of seeking to impose her own personal view of what the law should be via the criminal cases before her. She has been reversed in every one of the cases the prosecutor has appealed since the judge took the bench in 2011 (twenty cases). No judge in Oakland County has a comparable track record.”
Hartig responded by saying prosecutors were aware she required in-person appearances and failed to comply with the law. “They didn’t do their job, and now they’d like to blame the judge for enforcing the law. That’s no surprise—and neither is the attempt by political opponents to pile on,” Hartig said in a statement to the Free Press at the time.
That same year, a former top aide sued Hartig, alleging she mistreated employees and the public for years. Hartig denied the bullying and other allegations, but the county ultimately agreed to a $100,000 settlement. The settlement does not necessarily end scrutiny of Hartig’s actions.
Her bio says:
Judge Hartig is a graduate of Traverse City Senior High School and Michigan State University (James Madison Honors College). Judge Hartig was one of six students nationally to be selected to intern at the White House during the tenure of President Ronald Reagan. Judge Hartig received her law degree from the Washington College of Law at the American University and graduated in the top 5% of her law school class.
Judge Hartig served as an Assistant Oakland County Prosecutor for five years prosecuting misdemeanors and felonies. Judge Hartig co-founded the Domestic Violence Assault Unit and specialized in prosecuting serious domestic physical and sexual abuse. After leaving the prosecutor's office, Judge Hartig was in private practice for 14 years, specializing in criminal and traffic law. Judge Hartig was honored as a Michigan Super Lawyer in 2009 and 2010, designating her as among the top 5% of all attorneys in Michigan who practice criminal law. She was elected to the bench as a District Court Judge in 2010.
