The Docket — Issue 09

Signed in Absentia

Week of June 2, 2025 • Difficulty: Moderate

The Scenario

Four judges across Michigan accumulated complaints during the same filing window — each from a different county, each facing a different allegation, each landing at a different outcome. The JTC reviewed all four in the same quarter without any of them appearing on the same docket. All judges and cases in this puzzle are fictional.

Clues

1. Judge Harlow is not from St. Clair County.
2. The judge from Monroe County was investigated for willful misconduct in office.
3. Judge Quintero received a public censure.
4. The judge who received a consent agreement was investigated for improper sentence impositions.
5. Judge Harlow was investigated for ex parte communications.
6. Judge Vasquez presided in St. Clair County.
7. The judge from Ionia County was dismissed.
8. Judge Ndukwe is not from Monroe County.
9. Judge Quintero presided in Monroe County.
10. Judge Ndukwe was investigated for selective bond-setting.

Your Grid

Solution

• Harlow — Ionia County — Ex parte communications — Dismissed
• Quintero — Monroe County — Willful misconduct in office — Public censure
• Vasquez — St. Clair County — Improper sentence impositions — Consent agreement
• Ndukwe — Saginaw County — Selective bond-setting — Private admonishment

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From the editor

The patterns in these puzzles are fictional. The ones in Michigan’s courts aren’t. Rita maps those for a living.