A federal lawsuit accusing Macomb County and its Prosecutor Peter Lucido of discriminatory hiring practices was voluntarily dismissed "with prejudice," a status signifying that the case cannot be refiled, as noted in a press release from the Prosecutor’s Office. The claimant, who remained unnamed in the press reports, had alleged he was bypassed for an assistant prosecuting attorney role due to perceived biases regarding his sexual orientation and disability. The office refuted the allegations, stating hiring decisions were purely merit-based, and made jointly by Lucido and a human resources specialist, with selections grounded in applicants' "credentials, merits and verbal skills" as cited by Audacy.
Controversy shadows Lucido beyond the now-dismissed lawsuit. In a separate incident, the prosecutor has requested that Macomb County Circuit Judge James Maceroni recuse himself from presiding over an ethics-related lawsuit Lucido has levied against the county's top attorney and ethics board. Lucido claims that the judge's past campaign contribution to his political foe may compromise his impartiality. The Detroit Free Press reported that Lucido's motion to disqualify cited a $100 contribution from Maceroni to a rival's committee as potential evidence of bias. Furthermore, Lucido’s attorney, Todd Perkins, insists that "In this instance, we believe the totality of the circumstances merit and mandate that Judge Maceroni recuse himself from this case," as mentioned in a statement obtained by Detroit Free Press.
In yet another twist involving the embattled prosecutor's office, additional context to the hiring lawsuit is provided by The Detroit News, which noted that Benjamin Deneweth, the applicant behind the original discrimination case, had secured an affidavit from a former assistant prosecuting attorney. The affidavit alleged that Lucido made remarks suggestive of discriminatory attitudes toward Deneweth’s sexual orientation. Nonetheless, the evidentiary trail favored Lucido, who stated through his office that after tie-breakers based on alphabetic last name order, credentials warranted decision-making, leaving Deneweth's claims unsupported. The accusatory landscape seemed to muddy further upon Deneweth’s attorney's withdrawal from the case, due to alleged communication breakdowns as reported by The Detroit News.
