by P.D. Lesko
On Aug. 12, 2025, Scio Twp. Supervisor Jillian Kerry was bound over for trial in the 22nd Circuit Court on charges of two alleged felony computer crimes. Judge J. Cedric Simpson of the 14-A District Court listened as Kerry’s attorney R. Michael Bullotta cross-examined Washtenaw County Sheriff’s forensic expert Det. Sgt. Kevin Parviz, Ph.D. for almost 90 minutes. The Judge sustained every objection made by the Washtenaw County Asst. Prosecutor handling the case, refused to instruct Parviz to answer the questions asked of him, and at one point took a lengthy break, interrupting Bullotta’s cross-examination of Parviz. Judge Simpson apologized for the lengthy interruption, which he told those present was “unavoidable.”
Judge Simpson, a normally even-tempered and affable judge, was impatient and frequently became so angry during the hearings at which Kerry’s lawyer worked to poke holes in the prosecution’s case, the judge would yell at Bullotta, jump out of his chair, call a recess and leave the courtroom for lengthy periods.
At an Oct. 24, 2024 Probable Cause hearing, Bullotta said that the charges against Kerry, as well as her prosecution by County Prosecutor Eli Savit, appeared to “be fishy.”
Simpson replied, “You need to be respectful of the process and the people, and I think some people don’t do that, and sometimes they don’t do that with just the words they use.” Then, Simpson read Bullotta’s filing out loud and criticized it extensively.
At an April 29, 2025 Preliminary hearing, at around 1:30 p.m. during Bullotta’s cross-examination of former Scio Twp. Supervisor Will Hathaway (who brought the charges against Kerry, his political opponent), Judge Simpson raised his voice and said to Bullotta, “We’ve been through this before, about who runs this courtroom.” Judge Simpson, furious, announced a recess and yelled at Kerry’s lawyer, “Sit down!” Judge Simpson then left the courtroom for 30 minutes.
At a July 1, 2025 hearing, Bullotta, a polite, soft-spoken man with a mild stutter, put on the record the accusation that Judge Simpson had violated his client’s Constitutional rights by denying her the right to cross-examine a witness (by adjourning the proceedings), and had shown favoritism.
“For the record,” said Bullotta at the July 1, 2025 hearing, “this adjournment is over my client’s objection.”
Judge Simpson asked for the basis of the objection and Bullotta replied, “Her Sixth Amendment right to cross-examine and confront the witness against her.”
The Judge interrupted Bullotta who then said, “I’ll let you finish. Let me know when I can talk, because I just want to make a record.”
“Yeah,” said Judge Simpson, “but you’re making a record of things that don’t exist. Are you indicating that the Court is taking away her [Kerry’s] Sixth Amendment right to cross-examine this witness?”
Bullotta replied that by “moving [adjourning] this proceeding, the Court is intervening….in a case where I was not even going to introduce the expert’s testimony or his report. So the Court is moving this to, essentially, give an advantage to the other side.”
At that point, Judge Simpson threw up his hands, jumped out of his seat and left the courtroom, calling a recess. A few minutes later, the Judge returned and allowed Bullotta to place his objections on the record.
To kick off Bullotta’s Aug. 12 cross-examination of the prosecution’s witness, Det. Kevin Parviz, Judge Simpson pointedly announced Bullotta’s client was free to exercise her Constitutional rights.
At the Aug. 12 hearing, Bullotta pointed out that Hathaway’s email account contained over 60,000 messages, and that computer logs showed less than 45 seconds elapsed between when Kerry logged on to the computer and when the email and Zoom invitation went out. It’s unclear how Kerry found the email among the 60,000 in Hathaway’s email inbox, addressed the email to the Township’s Clerk, and then forwarded the email in less than 45 seconds.
At the Aug. 12 hearing, Bullotta in his summation argued Judge Simpson should dismiss the charges against Kerry. Judge Simpson, glasses perched atop his head, looked unconvinced.
While explaining his ruling to bind over Kerry for trial, Judge Simpson took one last opportunity to criticize Bullotta’s lawyering and his “strategy.”
Between Dec. 2023 and October 2024 in the matter of State of Michigan v Kerry, Scio Township paid $103,677.25 for reimbursement of Sup. Jillian Kerry’s cost of two attorneys’ services. Kerry was using a township-owned laptop to launch a Zoom meeting for township officials when an email and a Zoom invite were sent out from former Sup. Will Hathaway’s Outlook email account.
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