Diane Hathaway

American judge (born 1954)

Diane Marie Hathaway (born February 28, 1954) is a former Justice of the Michigan Supreme Court and a convicted felon . Hathaway, a Democrat, was elected on November 4, 2008, to an 8-year term which commenced in January 2009. Hathaway retired from the court effective January 21, 2013, after being charged with felony criminal mortgage fraud , to which she pleaded guilty on January 29, 2013, and was sentenced to a year in prison.

Early life and career

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Hathaway was born and raised in Detroit , where her father was a city police officer. She attended the Henry Ford Hospital School of Radiological Technology from 1972 to 1974, before attending Wayne State University from 1980 to 1981. Hathaway later earned a BS in health from Madonna College , where she graduated with honors in 1983.

Hathaway went on to receive a Juris Doctor degree from the Detroit College of Law (now Michigan State University College of Law ) in 1987. While attending law school, Hathaway served as a research clerk in the Detroit Recorder's Court, and then in the Circuit Court. After passing the bar, she served as a public attorney from 1987 to 1993, first as a Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor, and then as Chief of the Drug Forfeiture Division.

Hathaway earned a Real Estate Salesperson license in Michigan in 1987 and a Real Estate Broker license in 1990. According to her Supreme Court biography, she has taught Continuing Education and Real Estate Law classes for other licensees.

In November 1992, Hathaway was elected judge of the Wayne County Circuit Court, 3rd Judicial Circuit, and served from 1993 until 2009, when she was elevated to Michigan Supreme Court Justice.

In 2006, Hathaway mounted an unsuccessful campaign for a seat on the state Court of Appeals . She finished third behind two sitting judges.

Hathaway is married to attorney Michael J. Kingsley.

Hathaway's annual compensation for her work on the Supreme Court was $164,610.

Hathaway was the first sitting Michigan Supreme Court Justice to be charged with a crime in nearly 40 years. In 1975, former Michigan Governor and Supreme Court Justice John Swainson was acquitted of bribery , but served a short sentence for perjury committed before a federal grand jury .

Supreme Court candidacy and election

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With the support of unions including the Michigan Education Association , the AFL-CIO , and the United Auto Workers , Hathaway was nominated at the Michigan Democratic Party's summer convention, and announced her candidacy for the state Supreme Court in September 2008. Hathaway ran for the seat held by the conservative incumbent Chief Justice of the Court, Cliff Taylor . Her campaign echoed the "change" theme of other state and national candidates during the 2008 election cycle, and Hathaway's negative advertising strategy focused on a controversial charge that Taylor had been caught napping on the bench while arguments were being heard. Regarding Taylor, Hathaway was quoted as saying "If you see justice in the name, he really belongs in the hall of shame."

Hathaway's stunning defeat of Taylor by 10 percentage points marked the first time an incumbent judge had been unseated in Michigan in nearly 25 years, and the first time in history that a sitting Supreme Court justice had been defeated in a re-election bid.

On January 9, 2009, Hathaway was sworn in as the 104th justice of the court, being the seventh woman seated over the court's history. Among those attending the investiture ceremony were family members, including Hathaway's former sister-in-law Judge Amy Hathaway of Wayne County's 3rd Circuit Court.

Hathaway's time on the court was mainly highlighted by the reversal of decisions reached under the Taylor court, particularly in cases involving personal injury and insurance company liability.

Mortgage fraud

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Beginning in May 2012, Hathaway's personal real estate dealings became the subject of growing media scrutiny after WXYZ-TV 's Ross Jones reported on the recent shuffling of Hathaway properties in Michigan and Florida. Justice Hathaway declined to answer Jones's questions concerning her property transactions on camera. The Associated Press soon picked up the story. It was reported that "The chief justice of the Michigan Supreme Court (Robert P. Young, Jr. ) called on a fellow justice (Hathaway) to 'clear the air' Thursday after a TV station said she put real estate in relatives' names while trying to persuade a bank to allow a short sale on a separate home."

It was claimed that after the hardship sale of her lakefront home (reportedly mortgaged for $1.5 million) in Grosse Pointe Park was finalized, Hathaway put another home — a debt-free property in Windermere, Florida , valued at about $644,000 — back into her name. The short sale of the Grosse Pointe home allegedly allowed Hathaway to avoid foreclosure proceedings and walk away from $600,000 in mortgage debt.

Before the short sale, Hathaway transferred another Grosse Pointe Park home on Windmill Pointe Drive to her stepson, Michael Kingsley (Michigan attorney P15984), with no significant funds changing hands.

A third Grosse Pointe Park home, purchased for $195,000 in cash by Hathaway's stepdaughter Sarah Kingsley, was also transferred into Hathaway's name after the short sale in question. No money changed hands in the "sale" of that Balfour Street home to Hathaway, which would become, and remains, Hathaway's reported personal residence. Sarah Kingsley reportedly pursued a separate short sale on a home in Grosse Pointe Woods at the time of her cash purchase on Balfour, raising questions as to the source of the funds used by Sarah Kingsley to make the initial purchase on Balfour.

Sometime after the beginning of WXYZ's investigation, Hathaway reportedly became the subject of an FBI probe as a Grand Jury was reportedly

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