Judge rules 'it's a wash' in Pontiac court battle over transgender woman's testicles

Pontiac — A district court judge Wednesday denied a pair of dueling $6,500 small claims petitions that centered around a transgender woman's attempt to get her surgically removed testicles back after they were kept for months in her ex-boyfriend's refrigerator.

During a contentious small claims hearing in Pontiac's 50th District Court, Judge Jeremy Bowie ruled "it's a wash" after hearing testimony from Brianna Kingsley, 40, and her 37-year-old ex, William Wojciechowski.

Kingsley filed a handwritten small claims petition in August claiming Wojciechowski "retains possession of my surgically extracted testicles, preserved in (a) Mason jar, kept in (the) fridge next to the eggs. Demand immediate return of my human remains specimen and damages of $6,500."

Wojciechowski filed a counterclaim seeking $6,500 in damages because he said he had been "humiliated" by coverage of the case by "worldwide news outlets."

Bowie denied both claims, a decision he said Wednesday can't be appealed. The judge said Kingsley had an opportunity to get her testicles back when an Oakland County Sheriff's deputy accompanied her to Wojciechowski's Pontiac home in January 2023.

When the deputy escorted her to the house, Kingsley had just gotten out of the Oakland County Jail, where she'd been incarcerated for three days and fined $100 for violating a personal protection order Wojciechowski had filed against her.

"We allow a one-time visit with a Sheriff's officer in situations like that for people to go back to get their belongings," the judge said. "Ms. Kingsley failed to retrieve the testicles from the refrigerator at that time. ... If they were so important to her, she had the opportunity to grab them, and she didn't."

Wojciechowski said he threw the body parts away in July.

"They were rotting in my fridge, and it was disgusting — I've got food in there I wanted to eat," Wojciechowski told the judge. "She didn't keep them in a biohazard container like she was supposed to."

Since the testicles had been discarded, the judge said he was unable to grant Kingsley's request that they be returned to her, and he asked why she'd arrived at the $6,500 figure.

"Specifically why I asked you: I can put a dollar amount on, say, if you were missing work at $16 an hour," Bowie said. "But as to testicles, I can't really put a number on it."

Kingsley, who clutched a small black comfort dog throughout the hearing, said the March 23, 2022 surgery at Henry Ford Hospital cost $20,000, although she said because she's disabled, the state footed the bill.

"But the state paid for that; you didn't," Bowie said. "You're not going to be unjustly enriched."

Kingsley replied: "They were my testicles. ... We're talking about my nuts. ... I wanted them in my fridge — not his. ... He denied me access to my own body parts. I don't think that can be quantified. The damages were the loss of these nuts."

According to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services, "The Medicaid program covers medically necessary gender affirmation/confirming medical, surgical, and pharmacologic treatments and procedures for beneficiaries clinically diagnosed with gender dysphoria." Medicaid is the government health insurance coverage for mostly low-income residents.

At one point during Wednesday's hearing, the judge told Kingsley to stop interrupting him, saying, "I've been patient enough."

Kingsley and Wojciechowski said they met on Facebook Community in April 2020 and in the fall of 2021 they moved into a Pontiac house Wojciechowski bought.

After her surgery, Kinsley said she put her testicles in a Mason jar and stored them in the refrigerator "because I deal with trauma with comedy. Shakespeare did it."

The couple broke up in December 2022. Wojciechowski secured a personal protection order against Kingsley, which she violated a month later. After she got out of jail and was escorted by a sheriff's deputy to retrieve her belongings from Wojciechowski's home, she visited the house a second time about a month later.

Wojciechowski said he denied her entry the second time because he felt she was harassing him. The judge said he had a right to deny her entry, since she'd already been allowed to retrieve her belongings a month earlier.

Earlier Wednesday, Kingsley had a hearing scheduled on charges of destruction of property, after she allegedly damaged Wojciechowski's front door. Bowie said she didn't appear for that hearing and that it had been rescheduled for Feb. 28.

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