Margaret Zuzich Bakker

ppointed March 2018, Departed June 2023
Roberts Kengis served as Chief Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in Allegan County for approximately 26 years before being appointed to the 48th Circuit Court bench by Governor Rick Snyder in March 2018. He did not complete a single full six-year term. Sources with direct knowledge of Judicial Tenure Commission proceedings confirm his June 2023 departure was compelled, not voluntary. The JTC closed Request for Investigation No. 2022-24774 against him solely because he had retired and the Commission no longer had jurisdiction. No public finding was ever issued. The Michigan Court of Appeals reversed him in In re DMT (February 2025), finding he wrongfully imprisoned a man for five days over constitutionally protected speech. Court records and Michigan Supreme Court filings document that Kengis maintained a longstanding ex parte relationship with Chief Judge Margaret Zuzich Bakker, including CC'ing her on prosecution briefings about pending criminal cases, coordinating political activity, and conducting documented succession discussions about the transfer of their institutional roles. He used former Allegan County Sheriff's Deputy Chris Haverdink as an enforcement mechanism, including dispatching him to individuals' homes at night in connection with cases pending before him. Multiple families who appeared before him independently report a pattern of deliberate antagonism, preferential treatment, and the use of parenting time and custody as punitive tools. Sources report he personally interviewed children in family court matters rather than using trained forensic interviewers. He now practices as a mediator and arbitrator at Lennon Miller PLC and through the American Arbitration Association, where he has been soliciting parties in active cases before Judge Bakker without disclosing their documented relationship.