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Orange County Judge Publicly Admonished for Pattern of Offensive Comments to Women
By a MetNews Staff Writer
Orange Superior Court Judge Julian W. Bailey yesterday drew a public admonishment from the Commission on Judicial Performance for engaging in a “pattern of discourteous, undignified, and impatient behavior with female and/or inexperienced attorneys, in 10 separate matters.”
The commission also said that “[i]n some instances, the judge also conveyed the appearance of embroilment and bias on the basis of gender, race, national origin, or ethnicity.”
Yesterday’s order detailed the 10 instances of misconduct, which included a gesture he made, in March 2014, to a deputy public defender who had informed the court that she may need to take a break to pump milk for her new baby.
He said to her “[d]o you need to…” and held his hands against his chest, moving them up and down five times in opposing directions, while making a “ch, ch” sound.
Bailey had made comments earlier that year indicating how “lucky” he was “to get to work with beautiful women,” apparently referring to the same attorney, the-Orange County Deputy Public Defender Sara Hendrickson (now with the Office of County Counsel), as well as Orange County Deputy District Attorney Sherin Larijani.
Other Offensive Comments
Also in 2014, the judge made disparaging comments about then-Deputy Public Defender Neha Nagrath (now in private practice in Long Beach and an announced candidate for the state Assembly in next year’s election). Nagrath, who is of South Asian or Indian descent, walked in on an in-chambers meeting between Bailey, Hendrickson, and another lawyer, prompting Bailey, using profanity, to accuse Nagrath of having “no tact.”
After Hendrickson, who has blonde hair, tried to explain that she had motioned for Nagrath to enter, he responded by saying “[t]he difference between the two of you is night and day” and “[t]here are two kinds of people in this world—blondes and brunettes.”
In 2022 and 2023, he had multiple interactions with Deputy Public Defender Jane Win-Thu that the commission found discourteous, including one in September 2022 in which he said to her that “[y]ou need to watch your facial expressions[,]….[i]f this is how you’re communicating with me, ultimately, it’s not going to be beneficial to your client,” using an expletive in his description of the way she was looking at him.
He apologized to Win-Thu later that day.
During an appearance in March 2023, Win-Thu rolled her eyes in the direction of the deputy district attorney after Bailey called a case on which the prosecutor had asked for more time. The judge raised his voice, pointed at Win-Thu, and said, “Don’t you dare do this in my courtroom.”
In January 2023, he shouted at Deputy Public Defender Tammy Nguyen during a meeting in chambers, saying:
“What date do you want? It’s a very simple question. What date do you want?”
Bailey had previously reprimanded Nguyen on the record for purportedly rolling her eyes at him. She denies the gesture.
Improper Influence
After Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez advised Bailey, on March 3, 2023, of a complaint involving three of the incidents, he asked one of the prosecutors assigned to his courtroom, Deputy District Attorney Nikki Chambers, to speak with him. He told her about the complaint and asked if she thought he was racist or sexist and she responded by saying that she did not believe that he displayed bias.
He also probed her about her recollection of the events. She recalled one event involving him accusing Win-Thu of rolling her eyes but did not remember anything about the other interactions.
The commission found that the “meeting with DDA Chambers constituted an improper attempt to influence a witness and violated canons 2, 2A, and 1.”
Bailey responded to these allegations, and others detailed in the order, by acknowledging misconduct but asserting that certain underlying medical conditions may provide a partial explanation for some of his behavior.
The commission declared: “If a medical condition contributes to a judge engaging in misconduct, they are obligated to take time away from their duties until such time as they can once again perform their duties ethically.
“In imposing this public admonishment, the commission noted that the judge’s misconduct was not confined to an isolated incident. Instead, Judge Bailey exhibited a pattern of discourteous, undignified, and impatient behavior that occurred over several years.”
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