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Calaveras County Judge Draws Public Scolding
By a MetNews Staff Writer
The Commission on Judicial Performance yesterday publicly admonished Calaveras Superior Court Presiding Judge Timothy S. Healy based on a pattern of misconduct,
The commission said in a statement:
“In numerous matters, Judge Healy engaged in inappropriate demeanor by making discourteous and disparaging comments to attorneys, litigants, members of the public in his courtroom, and a victim of a crime. In some of the matters, Judge Healy inappropriately gratuitously injected his own personal experiences into the proceedings. In one of the matters, Judge Healy gave the appearances of bias and favoritism toward an attorney.
“Also, Judge Healy prevented the proper exercise of, and erroneously denied, peremptory challenges under section 170.6 of the Code of Civil Procedure. In other matters. Judge Healy made improper comments about peremptory challenges that gave the appearance that he intended to dissuade attorneys from exercising their statutory right to file peremptory challenges. In addition, in a juvenile delinquency matter, Judge Healy improperly initiated an ex parte contact with a minor at a detention facility, outside the presence of the minors attorney.” The commission said in its order: “In determining to issue this public admonishment, the commission considered in aggravation that some of the judge’s misconduct occurred while he was participating in the commission’s mentoring program to address demeanor issues.”
In 2021, Calaveras County District Attorney Barbara Yook instituted a policy under which her deputies filed a peremptory challenge to Healy in every case. There are two judges on the court.
The commission did not make mention of the “papering” policy but did allude to a peremptory challenge filed on Nov. 7, 2018 by the District Attorney’s Office based on Healy’s statement in an unrelated proceeding that he trusted a defense lawyer, April Scott “more than anybody else” in the courtroom,
Healy was elected to his post in 2014. Prior to that, he was a San Joaquin County deputy district attorney.
He graduated from the University of the Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law in 2000.
Calaveras County—most readily associated with Mark Twain’s tale of a leaping frog—is located in a sparsely populated region of Northern California.
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