Bonnie Dumanis considers boycott of sixth judge

I am happy to note that Dumanis has lifted her boycott of Judge Einhorn, but this story has gotten much bigger since I first posted it. Congratulations to the San Diego Union Tribune for publishing an important story about Judge Judith Hayes, the first judge boycotted by Bonnie Dumanis.

The bigger story here turns out to be that the first judge Bonnie Dumanis boycotted was a staunch conservative, not a liberal concerned with defendant's rights. Clearly Bonnie Dumanis doesn't like liberals (i.e. judges who get perturbed when it turns out that the prosecution has convicted someone on the basis of manufactured evidence). So why did Dumanis lose confidence in a conservative judge?

I know from personal experience in civil court that Judge Hayes is capable of completely ignoring the law when she thinks no one is looking.

See Judge Judith Hayes posts.

The six judges targeted by Bonnie Dumanis:
Judge Judith Hayes--2003, moved to civil courts
Judge William McAdam--moved to civil courts
Judge Gale Kaneshiro--now hears only misdemeanor cases
Judge John Einhorn--boycott was rightly ended
Judge Harry Elias--D.A. says he was biased because he harshly criticized the prosecutors for failing to follow rules for turning over evidence to defense lawyers.
Judge Laura Parsky--possible boycott


Boycotting of judges nothing new to DA
At least three others targeted since 2003
By Greg Moran, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
February 28, 2010

When District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis quietly lifted a months-old challenge of Superior Court Judge John Einhorn late last month, it seemed that an uncommon event — the wholesale boycott of a veteran judge’s courtroom — had come to an end...

Since 2003, prosecutors have targeted at least three other Superior Court judges for whole or partial boycotts...

Two of those judges, Judith Hayes and William McAdam, no longer work in the criminal courts.

...Hayes was boycotted just months after Dumanis took office in 2003. The former state and federal prosecutor now hears civil cases in downtown San Diego.

She was challenged soon after dismissing murder charges in the middle of a trial against Michael Savala, who was accused of fatally shooting two bouncers at a Bonita restaurant after the prosecution had presented its case. Hayes said the slayings were not premeditated murder but were committed in the heat of passion — “a classic voluntary manslaughter,” as she said.

Savala eventually pleaded guilty to that lesser charge and received a 13-year sentence...




ORIGINAL POST:

Thank goodness we still have the jury system; that seems to be our only hope as a source of a variety of points of view in our courtrooms. However, even that might not offer a fighting chance to the accused: juries tend to do what the D.A. wants.

D.A. Targets Third Judge for Boycott
Voice of San Diego
February 10, 2010
By KELLY THORNTON

The San Diego County District Attorney's Office has threatened to boycott another Superior Court judge over rulings that prosecutors found troubling, according to a personal account from the judge in question.


Laura Parsky, the third judge in four months to be targeted by the district attorney, related details of the possible boycott during a court hearing in a domestic violence case Jan. 15.

Parsky said it was her ethical duty to disclose that a district attorney supervisor had complained to the supervising judge in Chula Vista about some of her rulings, including decisions she made in the still-pending domestic violence case. The supervising judge, who handles ministerial matters such as assigning cases to other judges, then relayed these concerns to Parsky, along with a warning that the District Attorney's Office may seek to disqualify her in future cases.

It is considered unethical for a party in a pending case to have communications with the judge without the other parties present. Although the prosecutor and Parsky had no direct communication in this case, Parsky was so concerned about the implications of the exchange that she consulted a state judicial ethics panel and was advised to formally disclose it.

She did so at the next hearing in the domestic violence case of defendant Michael Barron...;

Her comments are contained in a court transcript of the hearing. Barron's defense attorney, Lynn Ball, subsequently filed a motion to disqualify the District Attorney's Office because of "arrogant misconduct."

"I just don't like that they have this old boys' club down there," Ball said in an interview. "It's bad enough that every damn judge is a former D.A. To feel that they can go talk to the chief judge and say, 'Square your guys away or they're going to be challenged,' that is a violation of the separation of power."...