John
D. Harris
Los Angeles Superior
Court judge
A hearing began Monday on misconduct charges brought by the Commission
on Judicial Performance against Harris, a court commissioner and
judge for nearly 30 years, and the judge said during his testimony
yesterday that he will retire Oct. 29.
The hearing before three 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-is expected to end today.
The CJP, in a formal notice made public Feb. 19, 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.
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."
The most recent incident, the CJP alleges, took place in October,
after the judge had already been notified that he was being investigated.
Harris remarked to a female security officer screening visitors
for weapons at the South Gate courthouse, "Let's go to chambers
so you can search me," the CJP's notice asserts.
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 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 said.
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 filed an answer denying the allegations March 3. He is represented
by Long Beach attorney Edward P. George Jr., who has said the allegations
are founded on misinterpretations of Harris' behavior.
Kevin
A. Ross
Los
Angeles Superior
Court judge
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 mad 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.
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."
Patrick
B. Murphy
Former Los
Angeles Superior
Court judge
Murphy, who resigned from the bench while on the verge of removal
in 2001, was disbarred effective May 23.
State Bar Court Judge Robert Talcott recommended in November that
Murphy's right to practice law be lifted due to the ex-jurist's
"egregious" misconduct in collecting a judicial paycheck
for 120 weeks while on sick leave between 1996 and 2001.
The ex-judge did not seek review of the disbarment recommendation,
either by the bar court's Review Department or the California Supreme
Court.
Murphy had asked to enter the State Bar Court's diversion program
for lawyers with mental health or substance abuse problems but failed
to appear at a hearing to determine his eligibility for that program
or for trial on the disciplinary charges. His default was entered
and as a result he was placed on involuntary inactive status Aug.
9.
He was also suspended Sept. 16 for failure to pay his bar dues.
Talcott's findings largely tracked those of the Commission on Judicial
Performance, which censured Murphy and barred him "from receiving
any assignment, appointment, or reference of work from any California
state court."
Talcott noted that Murphy was absent from Sept. 20, 1999, until
April 3, 2000; stopped working for good as of June 8, 2000; and
resigned on May 4, 2001. He chronicled Murphy's activities during
the time he was supposedly too sick to work: teaching one or two
night law classes a week, serving as an instructor at a Citizen's
Police Academy in Baldwin Park, completing pre-med physics and chemistry
courses at Cleveland Chiropractic College in Los Angeles, and attending
classes at a school of medicine on the island of Dominica in the
West Indies from January to April of 2000.
Talcott rejected Murphy's claim that he was indeed ill, suffering
from various maladies including a "phobia" regarding judicial
service. The medical evidence did not support that contention, the
State Bar Court judge said.
Talcott also found that Murphy lied to Rolf Treu, then the presiding
judge of the Citrus court, about the state of his health.
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