Michigan Clerk Claims Firing for Reporting Judge-Juror Texts (1)

A fired Michigan court clerk said Monday that she lost her job after she spoke up about a judge—now a Republican nominee for state Supreme Court—improperly texting with an alternate juror in a sex-crimes trial.

Heather Blundell—who worked as a district court clerk in rural Oscoda County, at the northern end of the Lower Peninsula—reported to a defendant’s attorney in late 2025 that the judge over their client’s trial texted with an alternate juror earlier that year, according to the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Judge Casandra Morse-Bills of the 23rd Circuit Court didn’t recuse herself from the case after requests from the defendant’s lawyer, and Blundell was later fired, the lawsuit said.

She alleges Morse-Bills, 23rd Circuit Chief Judge Richard E. Vollbach Jr., and court administrator Tom Pratt violated her First Amendment rights and Michigan’s whistleblower law.

Blundell was in the courtroom the day two alternate jurors were dismissed from the trial because of an unrelated district court proceeding taking place during a break, according to the lawsuit; Morse-Bills presided over both matters.

After the other proceeding ended, Blundell followed Morse-Bills through her chambers to the exit. While walking, the judge stopped and laughed while looking at her phone and told Blundell that one of the dismissed alternate jurors “was texting her regarding his resentment for sitting through the entire trial only to be let go at the very end,” the suit said.

The defendant in that case was found guilty of two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and was sentenced to 25-to-60 years in prison.

Blundell, after talking to the defendant’s attorney, signed a declaration and an affidavit about the exchange, and the attorney asked Morse-Bills to recuse herself, the lawsuit said. Blundell also testified before Vollbach after Morse-Bills refused to step aside, and court records show Vollbach also denied the recusal request.

In February, Vollbach and a court administrator told Blundell they opened an investigation into her conduct and placed her on administrative leave. She was fired on March 4 for contacting only one of the attorneys in a criminal case and having a one-sided conversation “specifically intending to place a circuit court jury trial verdict in question and attacked the integrity of the judge, the court, an excused juror, and the jury verdict,” according to the lawsuit.

Vollbach said he was unaware of the lawsuit and declined further comment. Neither Casandra Morse-Bills nor Pratt immediately responded to phone calls seeking comment.

Blundell is represented by Paul W. Broschay of Dearborn Heights, Mich.

The case is Blundell v. Morse-Bills, E.D. Mich., No. 2:26-cv-11372, complaint filed 4/27/26.