Thomas Ludington
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2006 - Present
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Thomas Lamson Ludington is an Article III federal judge for the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan. He joined the court in 2006 after being nominated by President George W. Bush.
Early life and education
Born in Midland, Michigan, Ludington earned his bachelor's degree from Albion College in 1976, and his J.D. from the University of San Diego Law School in 1979.[1]
Professional career
Ludington worked as a private practice attorney at the law firm of Currie and Kendall, P.C., now known as Currie Kendall, P.C., from 1980 to 1995. In 1995, Ludington was elected to Michigan's 42nd Judicial District Court and served as chief judge until 2006.[1][2]
Judicial career
Eastern District of Michigan
Ludington was nominated to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan by President George W. Bush on February 14, 2005, to a seat vacated by Paul Gadola as Gadola assumed senior status. Ludington was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on June 8, 2006, on a majority voice vote and received commission on June 12, 2006.[3]
Noteworthy cases
Man sentenced for brutal murder of toddler (2014)
On May 22, 2014, Judge Ludington sentenced Anthony M. Bennett to serve forty years after pleading guilty to a second-degree murder charge in the death of 4-year-old Carnel Chamberlain.[4]
In the underlying case, Bennett babysat Carnel on June 21, 2012, while the toddler's mother was at work. During that time, Bennett punched the child in the head, fracturing his skill, and then burned his body in the home's fireplace. Bennett buried Carnel's body under the porch, and claimed the boy went missing. Carnel's remains were discovered on June 28, 2012.[4] Bennett pleaded guilty in December 2013, where the prosecution reduced his first-degree murder charge to second-degree murder and dropped six other counts against him as part of a plea agreement.[5]
While delivering his sentence, Judge Ludington referred to Bennett's upbringing, which Bennett's attorney described as "abysmal":[4]
| “ | "Mr. Bennett is responsible for taking Carnel's life, but other people are responsible for Mr. Bennett's upbringing. If he is a man on today's date without a moral or ethical governor, that's the way he was trained. Nevertheless, Mr. Bennett, is a dangerous man, an unusually dangerous man because he lacks that ethical governor. There is no other way to say it — Carnel's loss is the result of a heinous and barbarous act, period."[6] | ” |
While Carnel's relatives were satisfied with the sentence, they called the child's death "senseless."[4]
Central Michigan University discrimination case (2013)
- See also: Eastern District of Michigan (Heike and Brown v. Central Michigan University Board of Trustees, 10-11373-BC)
- See also: Eastern District of Michigan (Heike and Brown v. Central Michigan University Board of Trustees, 10-11373-BC)
Judge Ludington dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former women's basketball player at Central Michigan who sued her former head coach after her scholarship was canceled. Brooke Heike, the plaintiff, claimed that she was discriminated against because she wasn't a lesbian, while Coach Sue Guevara asserted that Heike had trouble grasping basic concepts of the game. Ludington found that Guevara and other Athletic Department officials were immune from litigation when acting in their official capacity with the University.[7]
Ludington's decision was appealed to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. The court agreed with the district court.[8][9]
Arenac County polygraphs (2009)
- See also: Eastern District of Michigan (Kernstock, Lynch and Seder v. County of Arenac, et al., 08-14500-BC)
- See also: Eastern District of Michigan (Kernstock, Lynch and Seder v. County of Arenac, et al., 08-14500-BC)
On July 8, 2009, Judge Ludington dismissed a civil lawsuit against Arenac County, Michigan, stating that the defendants "in their (official) capacities" were immune to civil claims in a polygraph case.[10]
Former Arenac County public officials Kenneth Kernstock, Amy S. Lynch, and Gail A. Seder filed complaints on October 22, 2008, on violations of the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments. The commissioners believed that releasing polygraphs in which they participated was an unlawful invasion of privacy and caused damage to their reputations. They also claimed that there were violations of the Michigan Forensic Polygraph Examiners Act which strictly prohibited the release of polygraph results.[10]
See also
External links
- Eastern District of Michigan, "Biography: Thomas L. Ludington," accessed May 27, 2014
- Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Thomas Lamson Ludington"
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Federal Judicial Center, "Biography of Thomas Lamson Ludington"
- ↑ Eastern District of Michigan, "Biography: Thomas L. Ludington," accessed May 27, 2014
- ↑ THOMAS, "Presidential Nominations 109th Congress: Thomas Ludington (USDC, EDMI)," accessed May 27, 2014
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 MLive.com, "Judge calls child's death a 'heinous and barbarous act' in sending killer Anthony Bennett to prison," May 22, 2014
- ↑ MLive.com, "Anthony Bennett pleads guilty to federal charge of second-degree murder in Mount Pleasant 4-year-old's slaying," December 17, 2013
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Claims Journal, "Federal Judge Rules Michigan College Coach Immune to Player Suit," September 8, 2009
- ↑ United States Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, "Heike v. Guevara, et al," March 18, 2013
- ↑ ESPN, "Brooke Heike loses federal appeal," March 19, 2013
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 MLive.com, "Federal judge dismisses lawsuit filed by former Arenac County officials," July 9, 2009
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by - |
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan 2006-Present |
Succeeded by - |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Active judges |
Chief Judge: Sean Cox (Michigan) • Thomas Ludington • Mark Goldsmith • Stephen Murphy (Michigan) • Shalina Kumar • Linda V. Parker • Laurie Michelson • Terrence Berg • Judith Ellen Levy • Matthew Frederick Leitman • Jonathan Grey • Frances Kay Behm • Susan DeClercq • Brandy McMillion • Robert White (Michigan) | ||
| Senior judges |
Bernard Friedman • Paul Borman • Robert Cleland • Nancy Edmunds • Denise Hood • David M. Lawson • John O'Meara (Michigan) • George Steeh • Gershwin Drain • | ||
| Magistrate judges | David Grand • Patricia T. Morris • Anthony Patti • Elizabeth Stafford • Kimberly Altman • Curtis Ivy Jr. • | ||
| Former Article III judges |
Damon Keith • Victoria Roberts • Marianne Battani • Anna Taylor • Avern Cohn • Patrick Duggan • John Feikens • Paul Gadola • Arthur Tarnow • Lawrence Zatkoff • Cornelia Kennedy • Ralph Guy • Richard Suhrheinrich • Horace Gilmore • Stewart Newblatt • Ross Wilkins • Barbara Hackett • Russell Harvey (Michigan) • George La Plata • Henry Billings Brown (U.S. Supreme Court) • John Wesley Longyear • Henry Harrison Swan • Alexis Caswell Angell • Arthur Tuttle • Charles Casper Simons • Edward Julien Moinet • Ernest Aloysius O'Brien • Arthur Lederle • Frank Picard • Wade Hampton McCree, Jr. • James Churchill • Mona Majzoub • Patricia Boyle • Robert DeMascio • Ralph Freeman • Lawrence Gubow • Frederick Kaess • Arthur Koscinski • Theodore Levin (Michigan) • Thaddeus Machrowicz • Clifford O'Sullivan • Philip Pratt (Michigan) • Stephen Roth (Michigan) • Talbot Smith • Thomas Thornton • George Woods (federal judge) • Stephanie Dawkins Davis • | ||
| Former Chief judges |
Damon Keith • Bernard Friedman • Anna Taylor • Julian Cook • John Feikens • Lawrence Zatkoff • Cornelia Kennedy • Arthur Lederle • Frank Picard • James Churchill • Ralph Freeman • Frederick Kaess • Theodore Levin (Michigan) • Philip Pratt (Michigan) • | ||
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State of Michigan Lansing (capital) |
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