A young public defender claims in a federal lawsuit that she was pushed out of her job at 35th District Court in Plymouth for passionately fighting on behalf of her lower-income clients.
Sundus K. Jaber filed a whistleblower lawsuit in U.S. District Court in late March, claiming she was prevented from representing indigent defendants in criminal cases in Judge James Plakas’s courtroom in retaliation for vigorously defending her clients.
Jaber, a Muslim who wears a hijab, says she was mistreated and harassed by judges and their staff at the expense of her clients.
On her first day as a public defender, Judge Ronald Lowe advised Jaber that she would be removed if she fights too much on behalf of her clients, saying she “needs to understand that 95% of the people she will represent are guilty,” according to the lawsuit.
Lowe then said, “If you contest more than 5% of cases, we will boot you out of here,” the suit alleges.
Lowe’s alleged remarks fly in the face of the 6th Amendment, which entitles criminal defendants to “effective assistance of counsel,” regardless of their income.
“The ability of a person charged in the criminal system to pay for counsel should not dictate whether they receive constitutionally-sound representation that is free from interference by the judiciary,” the lawsuit states.
Jaber, who became a licensed attorney in 2020, says the experience has been eye-opening and disheartening, but she won’t be deterred.
“It is hard to be a young lawyer trying to build her skills and reputation, and realizing how much power a judge has to influence your career and standing in the legal community,” Jaber tells Metro Times. “It has been difficult to stay working under these conditions and worry about whether my belief in providing a vigorous defense will hurt my career. But I know I’m doing the right thing.”
Numerous studies nationwide have shown that public defenders grapple with overwhelming caseloads, hindering their ability to offer adequate legal support to individuals charged with crimes.
After Jaber launched complaints that her indigent defendants were mistreated at the hands of Plakas, Lowe, and court staff, the judges asked for her removal.
Jaber filed her complaints with the Regional Managed Assigned Counsel Office (RMACO), which is a nonprofit that assigns public defenders to district courts in Wayne County. According to the suit, RMACO Director Teresa Patton, who originally recruited Jaber to serve as one of the two lead public defenders for the 35th District Court, didn’t take her complaints seriously and refused to meet with Jaber after she retained counsel.
On Feb. 13, Patton notified Jaber that she could only represent indigent clients in front of Judge Michael J. Gerou, one of three judges for the 35th District Court. The move cut “her workload and thus her income by half,” the lawsuit states.
Patton warned Jaber that if she filed a lawsuit over the issue, she would be removed entirely from the court system.
The lawsuit alleges the judges and RMACO violated her First Amendment Rights, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, and the Michigan Whistleblower Protection Act.
Jaber says her experience demonstrates the systematic mistreatment of indigent defendants at 35th District Court, which has a reputation among criminal defense attorneys of being unfair to defendants, especially those who cannot afford to hire their own attorneys.
“Wayne County has a difficult time recruiting a criminal defense attorney to accept appointments for indigent defendants at the 35th District Court because of the Court’s reputation among the bar as being generally inhospitable to public defenders who vigorously defend cases and generally allowing its staff to be extremely and inappropriately hostile,” the suit alleges.
Four defense attorneys told Metro Times on condition of anonymity that they try to avoid the 35 District Court because their clients often receive unfair treatment.
“It is hard enough to be a defendant in this justice system, and I always wonder if you can ever get a fair shake,” Jaber says. “When a court and its personnel treat people like this, I know it makes defendants lose hope and faith that the outcome is unfair. Defendants represented by someone who won’t put the work into their defense can face potential life-changing consequences with longer loss of liberty or more serious convictions that affect their future, even at the district court level.”
Metro Times couldn’t reach the 35th Circuit judges or RMACO for comment.
