Don't cross these ladies.
They're tough, no-nonsense, and in total control of their courtrooms.
They're three of the toughest judges in America and they're all in Detroit.
Judge Shannon Holmes told INSIDE EDITION, "I start at 8:30. I take the bench at 8:30. I require that people come into my courtroom as if they are coming to conduct business."
Judge Shannon Holmes was appointed in 2011. She's the mother of three and is an officer in the National Guard. She's also quite fond of sarcasm.
She told one man, "Unbelievable! But you are an incredible actor and for that, you should get a standing ovation."
Judge Vonda Evans has been on the bench for 19 years. Before that, she was a tough prosecutor for six years.
Check out one interaction between Judge Evans and a man she had just sentenced to life in prison:
He said, "You're lying. You know you are a liar, Vonda."
Judge Evans furiously responded, "Bring him back out here! Excuse me don't address me as Vonda. Take him out of here, take him out!"
He called the judge a liar and addressed her by her first name! She wasn't having any of it!
Judge Evans told INSIDE EDITION, "I was so angry. I can't tell you how angry I was."
Judge Qiana Lillard was in the courtroom that day.
INSIDE EDITION's Les Trent asked her, "When he said that in court and the judge went off on him, what were you thinking?"
She told INSIDE EDITION, "He was trying to provoke some sort of a response from her and you can't give a person like that that kind of power over you. So, she did great."
Judge Lillard is the youngest of the three judges. She's a former prosecutor and a proud Notre Dame graduate. She believes in straight talk, too.
This is what she thought of one defendant's excuse: "There's a lot of schizophrenic people, there's a lot of bipolar people in this country, and they don't massacre their families."
All three judges send the same clear message - don't even think of causing disorder in their court.
Judge Holmes said, "I grew up not seeing a lot of African American people in leadership roles not to mention women. In Detroit, black women are doing it all."
