A hearing was held last month on misconduct charges brought by the Commission on Judicial Performance against Harris, a court commissioner and judge for nearly 30 years.

The special masters-Court of Appeal Justice Eileen C. Moore of the Fourth District's Div. Three, San Bernardino Superior Court Judge Patrick J. Morris, and Ventura Superior Court Judge Henry J. Walsh-heard the evidence in Pasadena.

The CJP has accused Harris of seeking to establish personal relationships with sexual assault victims, making inappropriately personal comments to jurors, attorneys, and court staff, throwing a file at a deputy city attorney, and lying during an investigation into his conduct.

The CJP alleges that after two felony sexual assault trials in 2000, Harris met in chambers with the victims and sought to initiate personal relationships. One of the victims was only 16 years old, the notice of charges points out, and the Court of Appeal cited the meeting in ordering the defendant resentenced by a different judge.

Harris has acknowledged that the meetings were improper because the cases were not yet final. But he testified that he sought only to comfort the victims because he was moved by their plight, and did not intend to have any extensive or improper continuing relationships with them.

On eight occasions in 2002 and 2003, the CJP claims, the judge made comments to or about female attorneys, court staff members, or jurors that were inappropriately flirtatious or sexual. The comments included invitations to have lunch, a remark that a staff member was "cute," and thanking a lawyer for not challenging an attractive female juror because a judge "has to have something to look at during trial."

Harris said that in hindsight, he recognizes that some of his remarks could have been taken as offensive, but that he had no intention of making anyone feel ill at ease.

The file-throwing incident, the CJP alleges, took place in October 2002 and involved Deputy City Attorney Chadd Kim. After the incident, the judge "continued to be abrupt and impatient with Ms. Kim," and he later exhibited anger when Kim filed a peremptory challenge preventing him from hearing another case, the commission claims.

Harris admitted having lost his temper on the one occasion, and said he should not have required Kim to explain the peremptory challenge, which he said upset him because he had always had good relations with the City Attorney's Office, where he practiced before his appointment as a judicial officer. But he denied any continuing animosity.

Harris also recommended women to a male deputy city attorney for dates and failed to disqualify himself or disclose their relationship when the lawyer appeared before him, the CJP alleges. Harris acknowledged that he tried to help out the prosecutor, who expressed dissatisfaction with his social life, but said he saw no need to make a public disclosure that would have been embarrasing.

The CJP said Harris lied when he stated, in his response to a preliminary investigation letter sent to him in August, that he had never been "counseled, criticized or reprimanded" concerning his conduct by court officials.

In fact, the CJP alleges, Judge Carol Rehm Jr., then the Criminal Courts assistant supervising judge, spoke with Harris in December of 2002, advising him of concerns about his "interactions with young, female attorneys."

Four months later, the notice relates, Harris met with Presiding Judge Robert A. Dukes, Assistant Presiding Judge William McLaughlin, then-Criminal Courts Supervising Judge Dan Oki, and Rehm to discuss the complaints about his conduct again. At that time the judge was told he would be transferred to South Gate, the CJP said.

Harris testified that he believed the questions related to events occurring prior to the commencement of the CJP investigation, and that his answers were accurate based on that belief.

Ross was charged May 7 with three counts of judicial misconduct. No hearing date has yet been set.

The Commission on Judicial Performance asserted in its formal notice of proceedings that Ross made comments about pending cases on a public television program on four occasions, was twice absent from court without authorization, and in four instances treated criminal defendants inappropriately.

The CJP cited appearances by Ross, a former prosecutor, on the KCET public television program "Life and Times Tonight" during 2001 and 2002. Ross, a frequent guest on the public affairs discussion program, gained a seat on the Inglewood Municipal Court in 1998 by defeating Judge Lawrence Mason and became a Superior Court judge upon unification in 2000.

Among the canons of the Code of Judicial Ethics violated by the four appearances, the CJP asserted, is Canon 3B(9), which says that a judge shall not shall not "make any public comment about a pending or impending proceeding in any court."

Both of the unauthorized absence allegations also relate to public appearances made by the judge.
In March of 2000, the CJP alleged, Ross arrived about an hour late because he was giving a radio interview about Proposition 21, a juvenile crime initiative statute.

In April of 2002 he asked for and was granted two days off to attend a California Association of Black Lawyers conference in Palm Springs. In fact, the CJP claims, there were no conference events scheduled during the first day and Ross spent the time taping a "Life and Times Tonight" segment and attending an inner-city economic summit.

In his June 15 response, Ross said his television appearances were consistent with the California courts' efforts to educate the public on the judicial process and noted that other judicial officers had appeared with him or on similar programs. He also contended that the restrictions on judicial comment on pending cases are unconstitutional.

With respect to the March 2000 incident, Ross acknowledged giving the interview and taking the bench about 9:30 a.m. But he denied that court business was interrupted, saying he normally did not take the bench much earlier than that since he was presiding over a mass calendar court where much of the first hour of the court day was taken up with check-ins and attorney-client discussions.

He also charged that the then-site judge in Inglewood, Eric Taylor, who complained about his lateness, was actually upset because Ross was supporting then-Deputy District Attorney Patricia Titus in an impending election contest with Commissioner Deborah Christian, whom Taylor and most of the other judges in the courthouse were backing.

Titus won the election. Christian was subsequently appointed a Superior Court judge by then-Gov. Gray Davis.

The CJP also cited four instances in which Ross allegedly improperly communicated with criminal defendants or became "embroiled" in their cases and "abandoned [his] judicial role." Ross denied any improprieties in his response."