■ Macomb Daily
MACOMB COUNTY - Attorney arrested An attorney briefly arrested two years ago by a Macomb County judge has again run afoul of the law — and again states in his defense that he was just trying to do a good deed.
A Macomb County Sheriff's deputy took James L. Galen Jr, 43, into custody last weekend after the attorney was spotted driving west on Cass Avenue in Mount Clemens with an inoperative tail light.
Galen said he was transporting bagels for schoolchildren to eat at Alexander Macomb Elementary School, where his children attend. Police reports indicate the deputy stopped Galen and ran a computer database check on him, which indicated Galen had an outstanding bench warrant at 44th District Court in Royal Oak for failure to appear in court.
"Attorneys get those things all the time for missing court hearings when they're supposed to be there, for their clients," Galen said. "It was a misunderstanding with the judge there, and it's all been worked out now"
The deputy took Galen into custody on the outstanding bench warrant April 29, but Galen said he was able to rectify the matter and go free the same day with no charges.
Macomb County Chief Circuit Judge Antonio P. Viviano had ordered Galen jailed for five days in 2004, but ultimately released him later the same day, after he had continued to argue for a client in a family court case, after Viviano had stated he would not discuss that matter further.
Galen won some notoriety among Macomb officials in 2002 after his controversial but effective "Friend of the Court defense" of Calvin Smart. Smart faced assault with intent to murder and other felony charges for shooting his then-wife Laura Smart outside the Macomb County Circuit Court building; but jurors absolved him on all but a pair of relatively minor weapons offenses after Galen argued he had been temporarily insane because of insensitive treatment in the family court system involving visitation with his child.