Residents accuse local judge of ordering 'deprogramming' of children and raise questions about contempt and witness intimidation

During both public-comment periods at the July 13 Livingston County board meeting, residents raised concerns about local judicial orders they say removed children and required "deprogramming" based on theories attributed to Dr. Richard A. Gardner.

Hannah Suds (Hamburg Township), who addressed the board twice, said she brought a copy of Gardner's work and accused an expert witness in her case of relying on it. She described a sequence of events in which she said a judge ordered her children into a program and severed their contact with certain therapists; she said an expert who had not interviewed the children testified and had been paid to do so. Suds asked whether a judge can incarcerate someone to compel compliance with an order that had not yet been written and questioned whether tying a person's release to an action they cannot take—such as arranging travel or writing a statement the speaker says would be false—falls within the scope of coercive contempt.

Steve Williams (Marion Township) described related local examples, compared the case to others in Michigan, and said the board's public meeting provides a venue to raise these issues because courts lack a similar public comment forum. He recounted concerns about how orders were applied in his family and alleged inconsistent judicial treatment.

Speakers requested board attention and said they would return to future meetings with documents. The board did not make any judicial findings or take formal action regarding the allegations during the meeting; the remarks were recorded as public comment.