Public records link convicted felon to Eaton County sobriety court judge
A convicted felon with a criminal history that includes three intoxicated driving convictions was arrested this summer at the home of an Eaton County judge who supervises the county’s sobriety treatment court.
Public records from the June incident and another in March indicate District Court Judge Julie O'Neill and Timothy Pitcher III had a personal relationship. O'Neill, in a statement, described Pitcher as someone who had access to her home in June to watch her dog while she was out of town.
Pitcher, 32, was found on June 26 in a vehicle parked in the driveway of O'Neill's Charlotte-area home with an open alcohol container by Michigan State Police troopers investigating threats he was accused of making against an ex-wife in Lansing earlier that day, according to a police report. The ex-wife, who the State Journal is not naming because she is a reported victim, told police Pitcher was staying with his girlfriend, O'Neill, in Charlotte. Police located O'Neill's address before finding Pitcher in the driveway of the home, according to a police report.
Two hours later, troopers and Charlotte police and Eaton County Sheriff's Office deputies returned to the home with a warrant and arrested Pitcher for several parole violations, including consuming alcohol, according to the police report. State probation violation records show "beer and liquor bottles were found throughout his vehicle."
He refused a breathalyzer test and was taken to the Eaton County jail, where he tested positive for cocaine, records show.
In March, Pitcher was driving a 2012 Chevrolet Traverse that was registered to O'Neill when it was stolen from a Lansing Marathon gas station in the 600 block of West Saginaw Street. Pitcher told police O’Neill was a "friend" who loaned him the vehicle, according to police reports. Police contacted O’Neill and she told officers she allowed him to use the SUV, reports show.
O’Neill, 52, who represented Pitcher as a private practice attorney in court cases before she was elected to the bench in 2016, declined to be interviewed for this story. Pitcher is serving a state prison sentence for his third intoxicated driving conviction.
A State Journal reporter's call to O’Neill’s county office this week was returned by Okemos attorney Jamie White, who said political opponents have tried to turn the relationship between O’Neill and Pitcher into something it is not. He said she was not at her home when Pitcher was arrested there.
"It is not her boyfriend, it was not her boyfriend," White said, referring to Pitcher.
O’Neill later released a statement to the State Journal in which she described “false statements that are being spread” as “a last-minute, desperate attempt to swing the election and I find that to be not only sad, but unfair.”
She is being challenged in the Nov. 8 election by Eaton County Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Tettloff. Tettloff declined comment, citing rules about attorneys criticizing judges.
"I have been a youth specialist for four years, a practicing attorney in our area for over 20 years and a judge for the last six years," O'Neill said in the statement that did not name Pitcher. "I have known and communicated with many people in my professional and personal life. In my personal life I have many family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, former clients and associates that I have talked to in the past and still do.
“People are imperfect and I do not disqualify association with anyone because of mistakes they may have made in the past," O'Neill 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."
Michigan judges are required to follow judicial canons, or rules, which state in part that "A judge must avoid all impropriety and appearance of impropriety. A judge must expect to be the subject of constant public scrutiny."
Those canons don't directly address judges having a personal relationship with a convicted felon.
Robert Hirshon is a former president of the American Bar Association who teaches legal ethics at the University of Michigan. He said a judge having a personal relationship with someone in the criminal justice system would likely fall into a gray area.
He said there are likely no specific guidelines, or canons, about personal relationships between judges and others outside of a spouse or family member, but there could be precedent that clarifies the vague "impropriety" rules through various court decisions and state bar actions. Hirshon said he has not researched the question in Michigan law.
The Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission does not confirm or deny whether a complaint has been filed or an investigation has been opened into a judge, said Lynn Helland, the agency's executive director.
O'Neill's statement addressed the June incident at her home.
“There appears to be a rumor circulating involving an incident that occurred at my home," she continued. "At the time, I was out of state that week visiting my son in New York. There was an individual who had access to my house to feed and take care of my dog while I was gone, who I later learned had a dispute with his child's mother where law enforcement was contacted. No police officer or agency contacted me then and no police officer or agency still to this day has ever contacted me about this.
“I have devoted my life to public service. As a professional courtesy, I am providing this response to you but I also hope that you know that as an extremely busy district court presiding judge in the last days of a re-election campaign, I can not continue to respond or participate in continuing this attempted smear job. The citizens of Eaton County deserve my complete attention.”
She did not address in her statement the March incident when Pitcher was driving her SUV with her permission.
Police reports show Pitcher drove to a gas station in Lansing and left the SUV running when he went inside. He had noticed people “eyeing” the SUV, he told police, and ran out when several got into the vehicle but they drove away. The SUV was later involved in a hit-and-run crash and, while a police officer was talking to a victim of that incident, the vehicle drove by and soon after crashed into a home on Pine Street and knocked it off its foundation, according to a police report. Several teens were arrested and two others escaped and were not identified.
Pitcher has a conviction for assault with intent to do great bodily harm less than murder by strangulation stemming from a domestic incident in Ingham County. He was sentenced in 2019 to 30 months to 20 years in prison on that charge. He was on parole for that conviction when he was arrested in August 2021 by Lansing police for operating while intoxicated, third offense, a felony. He was sentenced in August this year to 18 months to five years in prison. Online records show he is being held at the Charles Egeler Reception and Guidance Center in Jackson.
His criminal history dates to 2008, according to court records, when he pleaded to a felony charge of assaulting/resisting/obstructing an officer in Eaton County. He has a 2009 conviction for unarmed robbery in which he was sentenced to three years in prison. In 2012, he was convicted of possession of a controlled substance and sentenced to a year in jail. In 2014, he had a conviction for misdemeanor assaulting/resisting/obstructing an officer and in 2016 he was convicted of auto theft, criminal records show.
O'Neill, who divorced her husband in 2015, is the sole owner of the home where Pitcher was found and bought it in 2020, according to county records.
The cases O'Neill represented Pitcher in as an attorney involved several traffic-related offenses in 2013 and 2015. She was elected in the fall of 2016 and took the bench in January of 2017.
The State Journal could find no indication in court records she presided over any cases involving Pitcher since she became a judge.
When he was placed on probation for 15 months in June 2021, Pitcher was told he could not possess weapons, was instructed to contact a substance abuse treatment provider to complete an out-patient program and was referred to domestic violence treatment, state records show.
In the Aug. 21, 2021, incident, Lansing police found Pitcher at the scene of a head-on crash at about 11 a.m. in the northern part of the city. Police found Pitcher standing beside a white van with front-end damage and a white Dodge charger with side damage was also involved. Police said Pitcher was wearing an ankle monitor, smelled of alcohol, failed sobriety tests and refused a breathalyzer test. He did not have a valid driver's license, according to a probation report, nor a valid registration or insurance.
Pitcher told an officer he had been drinking the night prior, according to the report. When asked how much he had to drink, he stated "a lot" but refused to give more information. Police obtained a warrant for a blood draw and he was taken to the Ingham County Jail. He had been scheduled to be sentenced on June 22, four days before he was found in O'Neill's driveway, but failed to make an appearance in court, records show. A bench warrant was issued on June 30, and his sentencing was rescheduled to August. His blood alcohol level was 0.262, more than three times the legal limit of 0.08 and higher than Michigan's super drunk legal limit of 0.17, according to a probation report.
He fled from Lansing police on Feb. 7 of this year, according to a probation report, after allegedly driving recklessly. He was taken into custody at a home in the 600 block of Daft Street in Lansing for an outstanding felony warrant in connection with the Aug. 21, 2021, crash.
In June, police went to his ex-wife's home in Eaton County after she received threatening texts that included "...you're a f****** dirty b**** laying on your back for a living promise that guy you going to regret this" and "I'll be over there in 10 minutes to an empty outside." Pitcher told police he had visited the home to see his "kid" and got in an argument with his ex-wife.
When Pitcher was arrested hours later at O'Neill's home, he was taken into custody on five parole violations: Refusal to submit to an alcohol test as ordered by Michigan State Police; possessing alcohol despite parole requirements; engaging in behavior that was threatening his ex-wife; engaging in behavior that was threatening to a man now married to his ex-wife; and using "a controlled substance, namely cocaine."
Pitcher's earliest scheduled release date is February 2024, according to the Michigan Department of Corrections.
Contact Mike Ellis at mellis@lsj.com or on Twitter @MikeEllis_AIM
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com or on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Public records link convicted felon to Eaton County sobriety court judge
