WEAPONIZED BY THE JUDGE Four sheriff’s officers. My husband forcibly removed. Threats of arrest for sharing photographs of my hospitalized mother. What a way to “protect” an elderly woman. Read attorney Nicholas Somberg’s account below. He reports that all three disciplinary charges against him were dismissed following an encounter in which he says a sheriff physically intimidated him. His account brought me right back to Judge Freddie Burton Jr.’s courtroom. Different courtroom. Different circumstances. A fear I recognize immediately. Our previous hearings had been on Zoom. The first time Judge Burton required us to appear in person, I had not seen my mother in seven months. Four sheriff’s officers were positioned around the courtroom—one by me, one by my husband, one by my brother, and one at the front. During a break, an officer got in our faces and said, “What about be quiet don’t you understand?” Meanwhile, my sister, my niece, court-appointed attorney Teri Jordan, and attorney Thomas Langan were laughing and talking loudly. Apparently, the demand for silence was selective. During the hearing, my husband urged our attorney to object. Our attorney refused. An officer then forcibly grabbed my husband and removed him from the courtroom. Ask your attorney to speak up. Watch your husband get thrown out. Sit there feeling powerless. That was my experience. My brother and I were threatened with arrest for contempt over sharing photographs of our mother in the hospital. She had lost 23 pounds and had sepsis roughly three months after the court allowed her to remain with her granddaughter while we were kept from her. Our mother’s condition was alarming. Yet we were the ones standing in court afraid of being arrested for showing it. Then there was attorney Thomas Langan’s claim that my mother personally called and hired him and said she did not want me as her guardian. I strongly dispute that account. My mother had dementia and would try to answer a television remote as though it were a telephone. Based on the condition I knew her to be in, I could not reconcile that with his claim that she independently found, called, and retained him. We had serious questions. We deserved answers. What I remember is threats, officers surrounding us, and my husband being forcibly taken out. In my view, Judge Burton weaponized the presence of sheriff’s officers to intimidate us. It compounded the trauma of being separated from my mother and terrified about her health. A robe and a badge do not make that experience any less frightening. They make the imbalance of power impossible to miss. If an attorney can experience the intimidation Somberg describes, imagine facing a courtroom as a daughter who has been unable to see her mother for seven months—then watching your husband be removed while you fear you could be arrested next. Courtroom authority should come with accountability. Families seeking protection for a vulnerable loved one deserve to be heard with dignity. What happened to our family was outrageous. I will never forget it, and I will keep speaking about it. Justice for Betty Hayes. ❤️ Nicholas Somberg’s Post *** ATTORNEY DISCIPLINE BOARD DISMISSES ALL 3 OF 3 CHARGES *** I have been silent for almost two years but now I am free and victorious to tell all. I was physically assaulted by (now former) Elected Oscoda County Sheriff Kevin Grace in none other than Judge Cassandra Morse-Bills courtroom while advising my client during his attempted Murder exam. Why? Because I ignored him after he inserted himself into my private and privileged conversation. He felt like he wanted my attention. He wanted to tell me how to advise my client. When I simply ignored him, he pressed his chest into my back, put his lips up to my face and said YOU'RE GONNA DO WHAT I SAY! I pulled my head away and said Get the Fuck away from me! Who are you anyway? (I'd never seen this man before) He replied I'm the sheriff of this town!