People of Michigan v. Robert Charles Cook ( 2016 )

STATE OF MICHIGAN
SUPREME COURT
September 30, 2016
PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN,
Plaintiff-Appellee,
SC: 154394
v COA: 317010
Oakland CC: 1970-006123-FX
ROBERT CHARLES COOK,
Defendant-Appellant.
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Statement of Justice Viviano Denying Defendant-Appellant’s Motion to Disqualify
VIVIANO, J. To establish a basis for disqualifying a judge, a party must show that the
judge has an actual bias, which is both personal and extrajudicial, against the party or that the
probability of actual bias is too high to be constitutionally tolerable. Cain v Dep’t of
Corrections, 451 Mich. 470, 497-498 (1996); Crampton v Dep’t of State, 395 Mich. 347, 351
(1975). Adverse rulings do not establish actual bias unless they “display a deep-seated
antagonism [by the judge] that would make fair judgment impossible.” Cain at 496, quoting
Liteky v United States, 510 U.S. 540, 555 (1994).
Here, the defendant-appellant seeks to disqualify me and other members of the Court
based on (1) our denial of his earlier application for leave to appeal and various motions by an
order dated September 5, 2014, and (2) a vague and unsupported allegation of an insurance fraud
cover-up. I am unaware of the alleged insurance fraud and do not harbor any personal bias
against the defendant-appellant. I therefore decline to recuse myself from participating in the
decision of this case.