Retired judge a no-show at hearing

Doug Guthrie / The Detroit News

Detroit -- A retired judge didn't violate conditions of her bond by failing to show up today for a routine conference on the felony charges she faces along with a former prosecutor and two Inkster police officers.

Mary Waterstone, charged with allowing witnesses to lie under oath during a 2005 drug trial in her Wayne County Circuit Court, missed the hearing today because she is vacationing out of the country, according to her lawyer.

At a hearing this morning in the city's 36th District Court, Judge David Robinson Jr. set a Jan. 11 date for the preliminary examination of evidence against the four.

Robinson also set a Nov. 23 hearing to determine if Waterstone violated conditions of her bond by failing to show up today, but upon later review of her bond agreement, Robinson canceled that bond violation hearing.

Waterstone has remained free without making any payment toward a $25,000 personal recognizance bond that doesn't prohibit her from traveling.

Waterstone was charged with felony misconduct in March by Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox, who took over the case after Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy stepped aside, citing a conflict of interest because the case involves her former chief of drug prosecutions, Karen Plants. Cox took the case only after four other county prosecutors refused.

Plants, Inkster Police Sgt. Scott Rechtzigel and Officer Robert McArthur are charged with obstruction of justice for allowing or participating in perjury that allegedly was designed to hide the identity of a paid police informant. Waterstone's charge carries a possible five-year penalty. Plants and the officers face potential life imprisonment.

Plants, 46, and Waterstone, 69, retired before charges were brought against them. Rechtzigel and McArthur, who have argued that they were following Plant's legal advice to protect the life of an informant, remain on the job.

dguthrie@detnews.com (313) 222-2548