Public Defender Sundus Jaber filed a lawsuit against the Regional Managed Assigned Counsel Office (RMACO), RMACO’s director and judges from the 35th District Court in Plymouth for alleged bias against lower-income defendants, harassment and retaliation for reporting harassment.

The lawsuit states that the defendants violated Jaber’s First Amendment rights to protected free speech, the Michigan’s Whistleblowers’ Protection Act, Michigan’s Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act and the Electronic Communications Privacy Act.

Jaber first filed the lawsuit in March, but amended the complaint earlier this month to add more details.

Working for District 35 isn’t her first time in the Plymouth courtroom. According to section 38 of the complaint, Jaber, a Palestinian American who wears a hijab, was wrongfully convicted of a misdemeanor criminal offense as a teenager. Judge Ronald Lowe, who is now the chief judge and a defendant in the lawsuit, presided over that trial.

“The Circuit Court judge reversed because Judge Lowe denied plaintiff (Jaber) and the co-defendants their constitutional right to cross-examine the complaining witness on false testimony she provided one day before the trial in a multiple-hour bond-violation hearing,” the complaint read. “Unbeknownst to the complainant at the start of the bond-violation hearing, there was a video to prove her testimony was false, yet Judge Lowe did not allow that into evidence at plaintiff’s trial. Without the video proving the complainant was lying, at least one of the three defendants, all women with no criminal histories before and after this case in 2010, including a single mother, would likely have been jailed for a bond violation by Judge Lowe based on complainant’s testimony.”

According to section 40 of the complaint, “it is rare for a district court criminal conviction to be appealed, much less the verdict reversed in a successful appeal.”

Lowe allowed the prosecutor, in the presence of the jury, to mock Jaber’s mother’s English, according to section 39 of the complaint. English was not her mother’s first language.

According to Section 41 of the complaint, the injustice motivated Jaber to become a defense attorney.

“I hope this lawsuit sends a message to judges who abuse their authority,” Jaber told The Arab American News in May. “Judges can’t act maliciously and think the robe will protect them.”

Jaber was recruited by Regional Managers Office Director Teresa Patton to become one of two public defenders working full-time with indigent defendants at the 35th District Court in July 2023.

She said she asked for a meeting with the judges on her first day, Sept. 5, 2023, to introduce herself.

“About five minutes into the meeting, Judge Lowe said to me, ‘I heard you are a true believer… you need to understand that 95 percent of people are guilty, so if you contest more than 5 percent of cases we are going to boot you out of here,’” Jaber said.

She said she was shocked leaving the meeting, but was made aware Lowe doesn’t preside over the criminal docket. 

“I naively believed everything was going to be fine since Judge Lowe was no longer doing criminal (cases), but I was wrong. Judge (James) Plakas’ secretary, Katrina (Kate) Wojtowicz, spearheaded a harassment campaign against me in an effort to get me to quit. Kate did not want me in Judge Plakas’ courtroom.”

Lowe declined to comment. The Arab American News could not reach Wojtowicz.

The 35th District Court Building as seen from Google Streetview.

Section 30 of the complaint goes into the harassment from Wojtowicz and Plakas’ criminal clerk, Alexis Fernimos. 

“The harassment ranged from falsely accusing me of a crime, saying disparaging things to my clients about my lawyering abilities, interfering with my ability to represent my clients, arguing against my bond on the record, making up policies that didn’t apply to the White male public defender and giving my personal cell number to my clients, etc.,” Jaber told The Arab American News.

After enduring daily harassment for months, Jaber said she sent an email to Patton, Plakas and then-Chief Judge Mike Gerou on Dec. 7, 2023.

“I requested that the harassment simply stop,” she said. “Unfortunately, it never did.”

In a call with The Arab American News on Monday, Plakas said he disputes claims made in Jaber’s lawsuit.

“From deep within my soul I dispute the allegations she has brought with her lawsuit,” he said. “Everything that happens in a courtroom is recorded. A judge can’t hide from the record, and any interaction between us is recorded… There is not a single thing I’m worried about based upon recording and what I know in general.”

Lowe became chief judge in January and Jaber said he set out to fulfill his promise to boot her. 

“He empowered the staff who were already harassing me to increase their harassment,” she said. “He contacted Teresa Patton, who was running for judge in a neighboring district and pushed her to have me removed. Teresa Patton never investigated any of the issues I raised in my email. Although she never met with me privately to discuss the issues in my email, she met with the judges without me.”

Judge Ronald Lowe, who is now the chief judge and a defendant in the lawsuit

Patton tried to get Jaber to move, the complaint read. 

“Judge Plakas advised Ms. Patton as a result of plaintiff’s report and request for investigation, his court reporter was ‘offended’ and he could no longer hear plaintiff’s cases, but he also declined to recuse himself from her cases (in January),” section 33 of the complaint read.

Plakas said he recused himself from Jaber’s cases, per her request.

“I am not going to put her clients in a bad position,” Plakas said. “Cases assigned to me she asked me to recuse from, and I have.”

According to section 37 of the complaint, the RMACO, a non-profit entity that assigns public defenders to district courts in Wayne County, cut Jaber’s hours in half effective March 11, “without cause and while refusing to discuss solutions to ameliorate the illegal working conditions at the court, in retaliation” for Jaber requesting investigation for harassment. 

Jaber said Patton removed her from Plakas’ docket. She is “paid set rates for her legal services representing assigned clients,” according to the complaint, so working half the hours cut Jaber’s income in half. 

“Judge Gerou refused to have me removed from his courtroom, however, and proposed to have me work in his courtroom full-time so that I could maintain a full caseload,” Jaber said. “If the other judges had agreed to that, we could have avoided litigation. However, they refused Judge Gerou’s offer to have me in his courtroom full-time.”

Jaber still works at the court.

“Despite the continued daily harassment that I experience at the court, I remain committed to working there because my indigent clients need a lawyer who is willing to fight for them,” she said. “People need public defenders who won’t simply act as a cog in the system that regularly convicts and jails people who don’t deserve it. If I succumb to the harassment and quit, it leaves my indigent clients without a public defender who is willing to stand up to the system and fight for them. I’m trying to remain strong for them, despite the daily challenges I experience.”

Jaber said she is grateful for positive experiences she has had at the court with Judge Gerou, Deputy Court Administrator Jennifer Lada and Court Administrator Pam Avdoulos.

“Judge Gerou has always treated me and my clients with respect and dignity,” she said. “Lada and Avdoulos have been willing to assist me in navigating the court’s procedures in a kind and respectful way that allows me to competently serve my clients. They’ve demonstrated what an appropriate and independent working relationship should look like between a public defender and the judiciary.”

Plakas said he has never faced allegations like the one in Jaber’s lawsuit in his 15 years on the bench.

“It (the lawsuit) is bothersome,” he said. “I’ll wake up, and I’ll think about this. I take pride in what I do. I love what I do. There’s a quote from the Top Gun: Maverick movie, ‘I don’t do what a pilot does. I am a pilot.’ I don’t do what a judge does. I am a judge. It’s part of who I am. I treat it with respect. I treat it with thought. I stand behind my record… I’m confident we will win the lawsuit.” 

Jaber said there is not a date for the trial yet, as these types of cases take a long time to work their way through the court system.

“I expect that trial could be years away, but I’m very confident the evidence will support my claims, so I am looking forward to the time I will get my day in court,” she said.

In the complaint, the plaintiff “requests that the court grant her judgment against defendants, including the following relief: an award of lost wages and benefits; an award of future loss wages and benefits;  reinstatement to her job position; compensatory damages for emotional and mental distress; punitive damages in an amount as determined by a jury;  interest and costs, including reasonable attorney’s fees and any other relief deemed necessary and proper by the court.”

Jaber said the Michigan Indigent Defense Commissions funds the regional managers’ offices under the condition they follow its standards, including “standard five” that “requires delivery of indigent defense services to be independent from the judiciary.” 

“As the MIDC standards recognize, it is crucial for those in the public who are accused of crimes and can’t afford to hire their own lawyer to have access to a public defender who is not a slave to the wishes of the judges and/or their staff before whom they appear,” she said. “Without that independence, it is impossible for a public defender to competently represent their clients or to maintain their required loyalty to their clients. If the only way a public defender can keep their job is to make the judges and/or their staff happy, they will be forced to push clients to plead guilty to offenses as quickly as possible rather than engaging in competent representation. That’s why the MIDC requires independence from the judiciary. In order for public defenders to do their job, they need to know that they can’t be fired for doing it.”

Jaber said her greatest wish for the lawsuit is fair treatment for defendants and the attorneys who represent them.

“Our Constitution guarantees that everyone receives representation, and people deserve to have an attorney who will give them their all, regardless of whether they can afford to pay for one,” she said. “I hope no other public defender in this court is subjected to the kind of harassment that I’ve experienced. No matter one’s appearance, gender, race or religion, everyone who works in this court deserves to be treated with dignity and respect.”

The Arab American News could not reach anyone at the RMACO before press time.