Judge's resignation gives Whitmer chance to further remake Eaton County courts
CHARLOTTE — The recent departure of Eaton County District Judge Julie O'Neill will manifest in a near-total makeover of the Eaton County judicial ranks once Gov. Gretchen Whitmer makes her fourth judicial appointment there in a matter of months.
O'Neill, who was first elected to the district bench in late 2016, resigned for unexplained reasons on July 9, about a year-and-a-half into her second six-year term. Her resignation was effective Monday, leaving Whitmer to appoint someone to serve the remainder of O'Neill's term.
Monday also was the official first day for Eaton County District Judge Adrianne Van Langevelde, who was appointed to the seat held by District Judge Kelly Morton before Morton was bumped up to circuit court just days before.
For now, the courts are deploying all of their resources to make sure cases are covered, said Amy Etzel, the county's district court administrator.
A magistrate is covering some docket matters, and visiting judges are "coming in as we need it," Etzel said, noting that all of the county's judges are cross-assigned to cover matters where needed.
"It's certainly a fine coordination of effort involving all our judges," Etzel said. "We're moving ahead. We're looking to make sure things get heard in the necessary time frame."
The musical chairs in Eaton County's trial courts over the past few months began with the resignation of Probate Judge Thomas Byerley in December and Whitmer's appointment of Amanda Pollard to serve the remainder of his term. Byerley was appointed by then-Gov. Jennifer Granholm in 2010. Pollard took over on March 4 and will have to run for election if she wants to stay in the job after that term expires on Jan. 1, 2025.
The retirement of Eaton County Circuit Judge John Maurer early this year gave Whitmer two more judicial appointments. She appointed Morton, then a district court judge, to the remainder of Maurer's unexpired term and then appointed Van Langevelde to serve Morton's unexpired district court term. The partial terms for both judges expire at noon Jan. 1, 2027, meaning they would have to run for election in 2026 if they want to stay in their posts.
O'Neill was off work for a medical reason when she resigned her post in a July 9 letter to Whitmer, saying, "I have made the difficult decision to resign," according to the letter.
She is no longer working at the court, and several attempts to reach O'Neill for comment this week were unsuccessful. A phone number associated with her in public records was not accepting messages. Messages to a Lansing-area attorney who spoke on her behalf in 2022 were not returned.
In October 2022, just before she was re-elected to a second term, she told the State Journal in a written statement that "false statements" were being spread about her in an attempt to swing the election. At that time, the State Journal reported that a convicted felon was arrested at O'Neill's home that summer.
Public records from incidents in March and June 2022 indicate O'Neill had a personal relationship with Timothy Pitcher III, whose criminal history includes three intoxicated driving convictions. Pitcher was arrested at O'Neill's Charlotte home in June 2022 for alleged parole violations that included consuming alcohol.
In March 2022, Pitcher was driving a vehicle registered to O'Neill when it was stolen from a Lansing gas station and later was involved in a crash. As a private-practice attorney before becoming a judge, O'Neill had represented Pitcher in court cases.
An attorney speaking on her behalf at that time told the newspaper O'Neill was not at her home when Pitcher was arrested there and said Pitcher was not her boyfriend. In a separate statement to the newspaper, O'Neill said she was out of state when Pitcher was arrested at her home and indicated he had access to her home to feed and care for her dog while she was away.
"People are imperfect and I do not disqualify association with anyone because of mistakes they may have made in the past," the statement said. "Personally and professionally, I embrace all types of people and try to use my skill set to help people and be there for them when I can."
In early 2017, O'Neill disqualified herself from hearing cases against Larry Nassar, who was later sentenced to decades in prison for sexually assaulting female athletes, after his defense attorneys raised concerns regarding a Facebook "like" O'Neill posted on a private account. The attorneys suggested the "like" might have raised questions about the judge's impartiality.
There is one Eaton County judicial seat that hasn't changed hands in recent months. That one belongs to Circuit Judge Janice Cunningham, who has been on the bench since 2013. Cunningham is the chief judge of the county's trial courts.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Judge Julie O'Neill resigns from Eaton County district court; Whitmer to make appointment
