Michigan Assistant Attorney General
Andrew Shirvell was placed on paid administrative on Friday until
completion of his disciplinary hearing, the Detroit News
reported.
Shirvell, 30, returned to work Friday
to face accusations that he tormented twenty-one-year-old Chris
Armstrong, the openly gay president of the Michigan Student Assembly
at the University of Michigan.
The closed-door hearing began at 9AM
and lasted four hours. Human resources staffers conducted the
session, which was attended by Shirvell's lawyer, Phillip J. Thomas.
“We didn't finish,” Thomas told the
paper.
Shirvell was placed on administrative
paid leave because the hearing was extended, said John Sellek,
spokesman for Attorney General Mike Cox.
“He will not be back in the office
until Tuesday afternoon for the continuance of the hearing,” Sellek
said.
Shirvell attacked Armstrong on the
Internet, at his home and at university events. At
his now private blog Chris
Armstrong Watch, the official accused the student of preying
on impressionable freshman, of being “Satan's representative on the
student assembly,” and labeled Armstrong a Nazi, a racist, a liar
and an elitist.
The case attracted nationwide attention
when Shirvell
appeared on CNN's Anderson
Cooper 360
defending his right to campaign against Armstrong's “radical
homosexual agenda.”
The appearance led to a loud outcry
against Shirvell, who decided to take a month-long leave from the
attorney general's office. Cox at first defended Shirvell's actions
as free speech, but later reversed himself. Cox, who did not attend
Friday's session, will decide Shirvell's fate based on
recommendations by staffers who conducted the hearing.
Last week, Armstrong
filed a complaint with the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission,
which claims the attorney violated the profession's code of conduct.
The complaint asks for an investigation, discipline and possible
disbarment.