Judge Janelle A. Lawless. Photo: Ingham County, Lansing, MI, Court website.
By Milton Allimadi
When Cassandra Fameux stepped into a Lansing, Michigan, courtroom in 2017, she had already endured three years of alleged drugging, coercion, and psychological abuse by her husband, Dr. Paul Gregory St. Claire.
What she did not expect was that the harm would shift from home to courtroom.
Court records—including transcripts reviewed by Black Star News—show a pattern of contradictions, conflicts of interest, and statements entered into the record that are unsupported by evidence. They also show a prosecutor who refused to act on a police recommendation for criminal charges, and judges and attorneys whose roles and relationships raise difficult ethical questions.
At the center is a single fabrication: a Guardian Ad Litem (GAL) who never existed, but who was nonetheless invoked by Ingham County 30th Circuit Court Judge Carol N. Koenig in 2025 to uphold a Judgment of Separate Maintenance (JOSM) that stripped Ms. Fameux of her rights.
The consequences of that fabrication continue to shape her life.
The JOSM and a related document, the Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO), on their face alone, are questionable in terms of the signatures–or lack thereof–on them as will be shown below. None of the documents is signed by a GAL. In the early stages of covering this case, this reporter sent an e-mail message on Jan. 4, 2024 at 6:41 pm to Judge Janelle A. Lawless who previously presided over the case and had since retired, asking her to confirm that the signatures on the JOSM and QDRO belonged to her. The judge didn’t respond.
The JOSM transferred 90% of marital assets to Dr. St. Claire, including millions of dollars in cash, and the couple’s two homes. It also gave Dr. St. Claire advantage in custody by naming his colleague Dr. Dominic Barberio as the person who’d determine Ms. Fameux’s mental fitness to co-parent.
Black Star News has asked Chief Circuit and Probate Court Judge Shauna Dunnings whether the court plans to review Judge Koenig’s conduct. The publication has also referred the matter to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Attorney General Dana Nessel, State Police Director Col. James F. Grady II, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, and FBI Director Kash Patel.
Chief Circuit and Probate Court Judge Dunnings has not responded to questions about whether the court plans any action in light of the apparently fabricated GAL Judge Koenig cited to back her ruling. Photo: Ingham County Court website.
A Guardian Ad Litem Who Never Existed—But Was Used to Decide the Case
Michigan courts declared Cassandra Fameux legally incompetent in 2015. Under Michigan Court Rule 2.201(E), any contract involving an incapacitated adult requires the appointment of a Guardian Ad Litem, according to Ms. Fameux’s divorce attorney Lisa Stern.
But when the pivotal Judgment of Separate Maintenance (JOSM) was signed on Feb. 20, 2018—during a period when Ms. Fameux and another former attorney Timothy Young say she was being illegally injected with the antipsychotic drug Invega Sustenna—no GAL had been appointed.
Instead, the court assigned only an Attorney Guardian Ad Litem (AGAL), Melissa Leckie, whose role was limited to representing the three minor children, records show. Ms. Leckie did not sign the AGAL line on the JOSM; her signature appears alone on the next page, curiously labeled as a second “page 17.” The line for the GAL was crossed out. The name printed as the GAL was Jenny Smith—appointed as Ms. Fameux’s Guardian, not as GAL—and she also did not sign the JOSM.
The person who asked the court to appoint Ms. Smith as Guardian was Dr. St. Claire himself. His attorney, Ms. Larson—previously known as Waite—filed the paperwork.
“To all of them my life was just a joke,” Ms. Fameux said. “To them I was the laughing stock.”
When attorney Stern filed a May 22, 2025 motion arguing the JOSM was void and must be set aside because no GAL had ever been appointed, Judge Koenig denied the motion. In her Sept. 3, 2025 ruling, Koenig invoked a fictitious GAL:
“Defendant also was fully represented by three advocates… The court finds that the defendant’s guardian ad litem and attorney and her sister-guardian (Jenny) all participated… Her guardian ad litem also happened to be an attorney who was sworn to represent the defendant’s best interests…”
Her assertion was false. No GAL existed.
Judge Koenig claimed a GAL represented Ms. Fameux’s interests even though none existed.
Photo: Ingham County Court website.
The judge’s reference to Ms. Fameux’s sister was also inaccurate. And the judge did not name her lawyer, Robin Omer—a fact that raises questions since Mr. Omer was formerly the law partner of Jane Radner, the attorney who represented Dr. St. Claire in his earlier 2003 divorce from the late Dr. Marcy Street, whom he’d also claimed was mentally ill. She died reportedly of cancer in 2019.
This was not a misreading of the record; nothing in the file supports the judge’s claim about a GAL.
When Black Star News asked Judge Koenig’s chambers about the false reference to a GAL, judicial assistant Bethany Wilson replied: “A judge has a duty not to initiate or permit ex parte communications.”
There are no court records showing that Ms. Stern objected to the fabrication. She also did not file a motion for reconsideration, and did not appeal, as Ms. Fameux requested via e-mail message. She has not responded to messages from Black Star News.
The late Dr. Marcy Street whom Dr. St. Claire also claimed had mental illness, records from the couple’s 2003 divorce show. Judge Lawless presided over their very contentious trial.
Earlier Attempts to Challenge the Judgment Were Also Rejected
Ms. Fameux’s former attorney, Mr. Young, filed a motion on Oct. 22, 2024 asking Judge Koenig to set aside the 2018 JOSM, arguing it was obtained through fraud.
Mr. Young wrote that in 2017, Dr. St. Claire and psychiatrist Dr. Dominic Barberio began administering Invega Sustenna “for a condition she did not have—schizophrenia,” and that Dr. Barberio later admitted that she was never schizophrenic. He wrote that the drugging continued through 2021.
“The drugs incapacitated defendant… impaired her ability to fully understand and communicate,” Mr. Young wrote, adding that Ms. Fameux repeatedly tried to tell the mediator she did not understand what she was signing. (Mr. Young’s filing also refers to Ms. Leckie as GAL).
Judge Koenig denied the motion.
Ms. Fameux then moved for the judge to recuse herself. Judge Koenig denied that request and sealed the motion. A judicial misconduct complaint filed in March 2025 is pending before the Michigan Commission on Judicial Tenure.
“I’m being treated like I’m in Alabama in the 1950s,” Ms. Fameux said.
She reported the drugging allegations to Meridian Township Police on Sept. 10, 2024. After a six-month investigation, police recommended domestic assault charges against Dr. St. Claire; Ingham County Prosecutor John Dewane declined to prosecute.
How a Lawyer’s Question Helped Birth a Legal Fiction
The roots of the fabricated GAL appear in a Dec. 20, 2017 pro confesso hearing overseen by Judge Lawless. Neither Ms. Fameux nor her attorney was present.
During the hearing, Ms. Larson asked her client:
Q: “Have you and Ms. Fameux and her guardian ad litem executed a mediation agreement?”
A: “Yes.”
No GAL existed. Judge Lawless did not correct the false premise.
Eight years later, Judge Koenig cited that transcript exchange in her 2025 ruling as evidence that a GAL had participated.
Ms. Larson did not answer questions from Black Star News about who she believed the GAL to be. Judge Lawless, now retired, did not respond. Mr. Omer did not respond.
Judge Lawless apparently allowed the phantom GAL into the transcripts. Photo: Ingham County Court website.
Like magic, Ms. Larson apparently engineered a GAL with one question to her client Dr. St. Claire. Photo: Mallory Lapka Scott & Selin firm website.
The magic question appears on page 5 of the pro confesso hearing transcript.
The Abuse Allegations: A Decade of Drugging
The legal irregularities are intertwined with the underlying allegations: that for nearly a decade, two doctors—her husband and his colleague Dr. Dominic Barberio—drugged Ms. Fameux with oral and injected antipsychotics from 2014 to 2023.
She told police the 2017–2021 Invega Sustenna injections were administered without prescriptions, using medication taken from Dr. Barberio’s storage cabinet.
Two psychiatrists later found no evidence of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. One, Dr. Rita Aouad of Community Mental Health (CMH), a state agency, testified that Ms. Fameux’s symptoms were consistent with PTSD.
Medical records from U Michigan Health Sparrow show she was diagnosed during an outpatient visit by Dr. John Marino on Dec. 16, 2014 with anorexia, depression, anxiety attacks, insomnia, and anemia—not schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
Hospital records also show that although Dr. Barberio was listed as administering the monthly injections, he said Dr. St. Claire gave 90% of them in deposition for the divorce. The other times his two nurses gave the shots.
Ms. Fameux alleges the injections administered in her home when Dr. St. Claire was angry at her and phoned Dr. Barberio were used as “punishment.” Both doctors deny that, though Dr. Barberio acknowledges one home visit.
Dr. St. Claire’s handwritten notes show the doctors continued injections with high dosage of Invega Sustenna even after discovering elevated prolactin levels associated with pituitary tumors, according to divorce court testimony.
Dr. St. Claire. Photo: Family collection.
Cover page and signature page or pages of the purported JOSM. The “document” that judge Lawless apparently upheld and Judge Koenig definitely upheld with her Sept. 3, 2025 ruling isn’t signed by a GAL. It probably makes sense since none existed.
A related document, the Qualified Domestic Relations Order in addition to lacking the signature of a GAL doesn’t even have an attached signature for Ms. Leckie the AGAL.
A Judge Who Asked Why a Sick Woman Couldn’t “Work at McDonald’s”
Despite diagnosed PTSD and repeated anxiety attacks, Judge Koenig—who denied Ms. Fameux’s request for attorney fees—reportedly asked in court, “Why can’t she work at McDonald’s?”
A 50/50 custody order remains in place. But Ms. Fameux says she has not had visitation with her minor son in August, September, October, or November. In July she was hospitalized for PTSD, she said.
The child remains with Dr. St. Claire, despite the police recommendation that he be charged.
Helen Walker, deputy court administrator, did not respond to repeated inquiries from Black Star News.
A Rush to Close the Case After a Judicial Misconduct Media Query
On Nov. 3, 2025, Judge Koenig issued a final divorce decree and closed the case. She did so without responding to questions from Black Star News about her false statements regarding the GAL.
Inquiries sent on Oct. 24 and again on Nov. 28 went unanswered. Ms. Larson also did not respond. Chief Judge Dunnings likewise did not respond.
Unanswered Questions
Key questions remain:
- Why did the court invoke a Guardian Ad Litem who never existed?
- Why did attorneys rely on misleading statements in the 2017 transcript?
- Why did the court refuse to appoint a GAL despite Ms. Fameux’s incompetency ruling?
- Why did prosecutors decline to bring charges recommended by police?
- And why did multiple attorneys and judges fail to correct falsehoods in the record?
The Stakes: Judicial Integrity and a Woman’s Life
If a court ruling relies on a fictitious Guardian Ad Litem, should the judgment stand?
If lawyers misrepresent material facts, where is the oversight?
And if police recommend criminal charges involving alleged medical poisoning, what obligation does a prosecutor have to act?
Dr. St. Claire was terminated by U Michigan Health Sparrow on Feb. 28, 2024. He testified that he was forced to resign after Ms. Fameux reported he had altered her medical records.
He sued Black Star News and this reporter for defamation in July 2024. Attorneys for the publication have asked the Ingham County Circuit Court to dismiss the case.
Editor’s Note: Please consider signing the “Justice for Cassandra” petition
