Bailiffs:  Enforcing laws, or judicial puppets?

Court file photo:  "Taking files home for the weekend."  

Although removing files from the courthouse is a felony, assistant Presiding 
Judge James R. Wagoner posed for his picture while removing files from the courthouse in 2003.   The photo is also on the Court's webpage..and is another reminder laws are not equally applied. 

(Also known as:  "What's wrong with this picture?")

Assistant Judge James Wagoner, who was privately reprimanded in 2009, still seems to feel a public place, isn't.

Worse, bailiffs are not stepping up and protecting the public from Judge Wagoner's abuse.

Good that one member of the public knows her rights.  Good that the CJP went public with Judge Wagoner's abuse.  Good that media covered the case involving Penny Arnold taking photos with her cell phone in a public corridor.  Bad that Judge Wagoner ordered the deputy As detailed by the CJP Judge Wagoner improperly ordered the arrest of Penny Arnold after attorneys complained to an executive officer within the courts.  The below is from the Metropolitan News on the matter.

"Wagoner directed the bailiffs to arrest her for contempt. She was later transported to jail pursuant to a jail remand order issued by the judge and remained incarcerated for approximately three hours before she was able to post bail.

Wagoner also issued an order to show cause re contempt, stating that Arnold was cited for contempt for willfully disobeying a court order in contravention of Code of Civil Procedure Sec. 1209(a)(5).

He subsequently found her guilty of direct contempt of court and sentenced her to five days in jail, giving her credit for one day served and staying the other four days for one year on the condition that she “obey all laws and all lawful orders and directives of this court.”

The commission determined that Wagoner’s actions constituted abuse of his contempt power and violated Arnold’s due process rights. Since her alleged conduct “did not occur in the judge’s courtroom and did not involve a proceeding pending in his court, the judge was without jurisdiction over her and could not lawfully order her to attend a hearing in his courtroom,” the CJP said.

Additionally, the panel noted such “security issues are properly handled by sheriffs deputies,” and suggested that Wagoner’s intervention “gave the appearance of having assumed a law enforcement role contrary to canon 2A of the Code of Judicial Ethics.”

The commission said that is was not persuaded by Wagoner’s argument that the court’s statutory or inherent powers to preserve order could be used to order a citizen to attend a hearing concerning conduct occurring outside the courtroom and that had no connection to a pending proceeding, or that reports of disruptive conduct by Arnold on prior occasions gave the judge the authority to act as he did.

Wagoner further “failed to comply with the proper contempt procedures by remanding Ms. Arnold to jail without a hearing” and by “failing to issue an order that recited the evidentiary facts supporting the contempt finding.”

He also “wrongly adjudicated the matter as one of direct contempt and wrongly found Ms. Arnold guilty of that charge” since her conduct did not occur in the judge’s courtroom or chambers, and imposed conditions on Arnold’s contempt that were not authorized by law.

The commission concluded that Wagoner’s conduct “constituted, at a minimum, improper action,” which was “aggravated by the fact that he used the contempt power to incarcerate someone over whom he had no jurisdiction” and that he had received an advisory letter in 2009 for abusing his authority with regard to individuals who were not before him."

"Are you gonna electrocute me for talking?"

Since bailiffs are in court to protect, it's up to bailiffs to decide how and which kind of level of control.  

So we have to wonder about any Bailiff thinks it was a good idea to obey a directive from Judge Joan Comparet-Cassani 

the only judge in California to called out by Amnesty International for Torture,  to taser a Defendant Ronald Hawkins with 50,000 volts for eight seconds which caused us to scratch our heads. Hawkins had been accused by Judge Comparet-Cassani for of lying.  She's been disciplined three times so far.  Hawkins accepted $275,000.00 from the good people of Los Angeles.

No word whether the bailiff received further "training."

Judge using bailiffs to hunt down a Family Court Litigant outside the court room - to set them up for going to jail.

While annoyed at the time, a judge who lost their cool, might eventually thank  bailiffs who step in at the right time to save judges from later troubles.  Had the California bailiff acted appropriately in the case below, San Diego Superior Court Judge Lisa Shall

could have avoided a public smack-down by the California Commission on Judicial Performance.  

However, because the bailiff assigned to her court did not uphold the Constitution, the Commission on Judicial Performance reacted positively to a woman illegally jailed by Judge Schall.  The commission wrote: 

"In Ms. Slivka's absence, without citing her for contempt or having her returned to the courtroom, Judge Guy-Schall found her in contempt and sentenced her to five days in jail.  The order issued by Judge Guy-Schall stated Ms. Slivka was in direct contempt and was to serve five actual days in jail.  With respect to the facts underlying the finding of contempt, the order stated, "full order and findings are set forth in the reporter's transcript that is the order [sic] this date."  Ms. Slivka was taken into custody outside the courtroom and remained in custody for five days.