DETROIT – Former Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh was back in a Detroit courtroom Tuesday, where a judge recused herself from the case because of a previous professional relationship the two had.
Judge Shannon Holmes said she had worked with Pugh in a prior place of employment and also knew the victim's family.
Holmes said she felt that it would not impede her ability to be fair, but that she didn't want to give the appearance of a bias.
The case was moved to Judge Deborah Langston, who kept Pugh's bond at $500,000. His next court hearing is Aug. 5.
Pugh, 44, was arrested in June at his home in New York. The Wayne County Prosecutor's Office has charged him with criminal sexual conduct in a case from 2003.
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He's accused of having inappropriate sexual contact with a 14-year-old boy. The complainant is now 27 years old.
The Prosecutor's Office said the two met when the then-teen inquired about an internship at the television station Pugh was working at. The teen didn't intern at the station but was invited to Pugh's Detroit apartment several times, and the two had contact by phone and text messages.