Judge Salcido to resign after public censure

Harold Coleman Jr. is incorrect when he states in the story below that "voters returned her to office believing that she was fit for another term." I didn't think Salcido was fit--I just thought that her opponents were less fit. I would have voted against Salcido if I'd thought that there was a preferable replacement candidate. I now feel vindicated in my decision. I hope that one day soon we will stop having elections for judges. Judges shouldn't be worrying about pleasing voters or campaign donors. They should be applying the law without regard to the popularity of their decisions or the desires of those who give money to their campaigns.

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Judge Salcido to resign after public censure
State Commission on Judicial Performance had accused her of 39 instances of misconduct
By Greg Moran
San Diego Union-Tribune
November 10, 2010

San Diego Superior Court Judge DeAnn M. Salcido will resign from the bench and accept being censured by the state judicial discipline agency for a series of comments that were alternately mocking, rude and snarky to litigants, lawyers and court staff.

Salcido agreed to 39 instances of misconduct brought by the Commission on Judicial Performance, including that she used her El Cajon courtroom to audition for a hoped-for reality television show. She also will never be allowed to hold judicial office again.

The agreement approved Wednesday avoids a public hearing that would have occurred early next year.

The public censure is the second most serious punishment, behind removal from office, that the commission can impose.

The panel said that from April 2009 to April 2010, Salcido kept up a running commentary from the bench. After finding out that one man with mental health problems was hearing voices, she said, “You’re going to tell me if they say ‘hurt the judge, hurt the judge.’ ” She once encouraged the audience to chant “woo-woo-woo” when she was questioning a defendant and led them in reading aloud a motivational sign posted in her courtroom.

Few escaped her commentary. She referred to court staff as “cucumbers,” and belittled Richard Longman, a public defender, as the “slowest public defender we have” and “Mr. Federal Case.”...

In its censure order, the commission came down harshly on Salcido, saying her conduct made a mockery of the judicial system and demonstrated a “temperament ill-suited for judicial office.”...