E. Thomas Fitzgerald
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E. Thomas Fitzgerald is a judge on the Michigan Second District Court of Appeals. He was elected to this position in 1990 and was re-elected in 1996, 2002, and 2008.
Biography
Judge Fitzgerald earned both his bachelor's and his law degrees from the University of Detroit. He is currently a member of multiple law associations.
Legal career
Woman wins 5-year battle to see file
At 15, while suffering from a mental illness, "FG" found out that she was pregnant. She sought a judicial bypass from a Washtenaw County Probate Court judge to get an abortion without informing or getting her parents' permission. Years after the abortion, "FG" formally requested her court file--she wanted to learn "whether she actually agreed to the judicial bypass and the abortion, and whether any of her rights had been violated. Because of her medical condition, FG had only a vague memory of what had taken place during the probate court proceeding. In a November 23, 2004 opinion written by Judge E. Thomas Fitzgerald, and joined by Judge Joel Hoekstra, the Court reversed the Washtenaw County Probate Judge's decision to deny her request. Judge Jessica Cooper dissented.[2]
Fourth Amendment discarded
In a 2-1 decision, the appeals court disagreed with a District Court ruling that suppressed evidence that had been obtained by using dogs to sniff outside a house for drugs. Police used the drug dogs' signal to obtain a search warrant to enter the residence, where they found marijuana and a gun. According to the Toledo Blade, Judges E. Thomas Fitzgerald and William Murphy, citing U.S. Supreme Court cases, said a canine sniff is not a search as defined under Fourth Amendment law. They said there is no reasonable expectation of privacy at the entrance to property that is open to the public, including the front porch of a home. In his dissent, Judge Stephen Borrello wrote, "A person's home is not some abstract place or location for which it is unclear whether the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy."[3]
Court invalidates suicide law
In a 2-1 decision in 1994, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Michigan's law against assisting in a suicide was invalidated on technical grounds, according to the New York Times. In determining their ruling, the court cited a 1920 Michigan case in which a husband murdered his wife by placing poison within her reach. In that case, he was successfully prosecuted, and in the 1994 decision, the case "held that aiding a suicide falls within the common-law definition of murder," the court said in its ruling. The New York Times records that "the Michigan Court of Appeals said the state's assisted suicide law, which took effect February 25, 1993, was unconstitutional because it violated a provision of the Michigan Constitution that requires any bill to have a single object. The current law started out as a bill to establish a state commission to study the assisted suicide issue and make recommendations for an eventual law. But it was later amended to make assisting in a suicide a felony punishable by up to four years in prison, in what lawmakers said was a deliberate attempt to stop Dr. Kevorkian from helping hopelessly ill people end their lives." Regarding the positions held by each judge, "Judge Clifford Taylor voted against Dr. Kevorkian on every count, including finding that the current assisted suicide law was fully constitutional. Judge Donald Shelton ruled in favor of Dr. Kevorkian on every issue, holding that there is a constitutionally protected right to commit suicide, while Judge E. Thomas Fitzgerald was the swing vote in every case."[4]
See also
External links
- Court relaxes guide for police dog drug search, can search private property
- Shiawassee Bar: Thomas Fitzgerald
References
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