OAKLAND COUNTY, Mich. – An Oakland County judge is requesting to dismiss three of the four allegations filed against her.
The complaint against Oakland County Judge Kirsten Nielsen Hartig was issued by the Michigan Judicial Tenure Commission on June 4, 2025.
Hartig has been a judge for the 52-4 District Court in Troy since January 2011.
She is accused of several instances of misconduct in her role as a judge, including failing to submit a report from her psychological exam, making false statements to the commission, mistreating employees, improperly dismissing cases and more.
A motion was filed on behalf of Hartig on Sept. 5, 2025, requesting that the commission dismiss three of the four allegations filed against her.
Request to dismiss allegations
The accusation of Hartig not providing a psychological examination report to the commission is asked to be dismissed because she “had no obligation to share any written report for her examination with the Commission,” according to the motion.
Counsel for Hartig also claimed that the commission cannot establish misconduct based on alleged false statements because there needs to be an intent to mislead and she “never could have intended to mislead the Commission about its own files.”
The motion also noted that Hartig was not required to adjust her docket because one party requested an adjournment. Her counsel stated, “merely an alleged legal error is not a valid basis for discipline in any event.”
Here’s a deep dive into what Hartig is accused of:
Failed to provide psych exam report to the commission
Before April 2024, Hartig was under investigation due to allegations of misconduct in her capacity as a judge.
The commission’s investigation revealed that Hartig’s mental health was an issue, and she was ordered to take a psychological evaluation at the expense of the commission.
After being evaluated in late May 2024, the facility completed its evaluation on June 6, 2024. The report was then only provided to Hartig. She was asked to provide a copy of it on June 12, 2024.
“Rather than provide the report, respondent’s counsel asked to whom the report would be disseminated,” according to the complaint. ”The Commission informed respondent’s counsel that the report would be kept confidential and dissemination would be restricted in accordance with MCR 9.261.”
Hartig allegedly refused to provide the report, and after asking for several extensions throughout June and July of 2024, the commission sent a letter of intent to file a public complaint over this matter.
The judge didn’t provide the report until Dec. 5, 2024, which was six months after the evaluation was completed and four and a half months after the final extended deadline was set.
The contents of the psych exam were not revealed in the complaint.
False statements
The complaint also accuses Hartig of making false statements to the commission, which included the judge lying about who requested the investigation.
Hartig was sent a copy of the investigation request, which stated that her then-chief judge, Joseph Fabrizio, and the former regional administrator.
Numerous allegations of misconduct, abuse toward court employees
The complaint also includes several allegations against Hartig during her time as a judge, including the following:
In early 2018, she allegedly insisted that a court administrator hire her friend for a part-time job in the probation department. In May of that year, she also told the court administrator that they had to be available by email or cell phone during approved absences.
The judge is also accused of berating the probation officer and court administrator while on the bench.
In October 2019, Hartig allegedly told the court administrator that she was taking too much time off when she was attending a funeral, and said she needed to be in contact with Hartig every day “unless she was ‘unconscious,’” according to the complaint.
It is also alleged that in February 2020, Hartig told the court administrator that she could only take her lunch break between noon and 1 p.m. each day, that she had to tell her and the chief judge where she was going if she left the building, and that she had to be available to the judge at all times.
When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Hartig told the court administrator not to cancel her court docket, and when reminded about the rules, she sent a disrespectful email to the chief judge, according to the complaint.
In January 2021, she allegedly told a public defender that she didn’t like his argument and that what he said “made her want to put a hatchet in his neck.”
Complaint: Judge acted beyond authority, wrongly dismissed cases
When a new magistrate was appointed in May 2021, Hartig told that person to handle her (Hartig’s) civil motions, despite the judge not having the authority to direct magistrates.
In July of that year, she allegedly told a pregnant probation officer to show her belly to the participants of a Zoom meeting. She is also accused of bullying two other probation officers in August 2023.
The commission said that Hartig “exceeded her authority frequently enough” and treated employees poorly so often that she “created a climate of fear among court personnel that obstructed the administrative functions of the court.”
Hartig is also accused of not keeping her state law docket on state law days, making it difficult for the prosecutor’s office to schedule a prosecutor to be available for court in each district, especially during the pandemic. When the chief Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office District Courts Division had asked her to follow the state law day guidelines, Hartig allegedly refused to.
In 2022, when an assistant prosecuting attorney asked to adjourn a preliminary examination because one of his witnesses, who was a police officer, had tested positive for COVID-19 and wouldn’t be available, Hartig denied his request, according to the complaint. She ended up wrongly dismissing the case. She also improperly dismissed other cases, one of which involved a prosecutor having scheduling conflicts due to staff shortages during the pandemic.
Bond decisions made prior to Oakland County deputy’s killing
In December 2024, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard criticized Hartig’s decision to lower bond for two people before they were involved in the killing of a deputy.
Oakland County Deputy Bradley Reckling was shot and killed while tracking a stolen car in June 2024. Three suspects, Raymone Debose, 18, of Clinton Township, Marquis Goins, 18, of Detroit and Karim Moore, 18, of Clinton Township, were arrested and charged in connection with Reckling’s murder.
When Reckling was killed, two of those men, Debose and Goins, had been out on bond after being charged for other alleged crimes involving weapons in Oakland County. In those cases, Hartig wouldn’t bind Debose over for trial, and she also lowered Goins’ bond from a $110,000 cash/surety bond to a $20,000 personal bond.