The State of Michigan Court of Appeals says Traverse City Circuit Court Judge Thomas Power showed “extreme bias.”
Last year Power sentenced Samantha Lynn Hughes to 13 to 24 months in prison for methamphetamine use. Hughes was pregnant at the time, and the sentence would have kept her in prison for the birth of her child.
“Thinking about [Hughes] versus the unborn child I think I know whose side I’m on,” Power said.
In their decision, the Court of Appeals said that sentence was unfair.
“We conclude that the trial court’s reasoning behind defendant’s [sic] sentence is constitutionally inappropriate, prejudicial, and exemplifies extreme bias,” the Court said.
Hughes will now be resentenced by a different judge. Judge Thomas Power could not immediately be reached for comment.
