A Michigan judge appeal court pleaded guilty on Tuesday, to a misdemeanor charge for carrying a handgun on a Detroit airport. The said firearm was discovered on the judge's carry-on hand bag on February while in the security area of the said airport.
According to Click on Detroit, Judge Henry Saad, 68 years old, entered a guilty plea to the charge of "possessing a firearm in a sterile area, a 90-day misdemeanor" during his arraignment set on Tuesday. Saad's handgun was found on his carry-on bag on February 21, in the security area at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy said, "Airport security breaches even unintentional ones are taken very seriously."Detroit News reported, Judge Tina Greene, the chief judge of the 34th District Court in Romulus let Saad to enter the plea in the court's chambers on the said district court.
However, Wayne County Prosecutor's Office expressed their disagreement with Green's decision to not hold the proceedings on the record in open court, according to an issued statement on Tuesday. Judge Greene said, the Michigan judge is not having special treatment because of it, ABC News reported.
Greene explained, document signing "has become a standard practice at our court for the convenience of the defendants." Saad's case will be abolished once he completed three months without getting involved in trouble.
Chief Justice Robert Young Jr of Michigan Supreme Court, who oversees the judiciary of the state refused to make a comment regarding the handling of Saad's case. A former prosecutor and a defense attorney, Neil Rockind said he find the procedure unsual."I hope that my clients, who are neither judges nor public officials, get the same treatment in court," Rockind said on his Twitter post.
Judge Henry Saad has been on the appeals court since 1994. Saad made news off the bench in 2013, when a watchdog group reported that he had donated about $81,000 to Republican candidates and causes in 2012.
