This site is not a platform to oust bad judges. As the California Judicial Commission demonstrates, with Monterey Judge Jose Velasquez, that's Rarely possible

Equally impossible it seems, is educating them. California judges banded together and executed a resolution stating they were against continuing education. A few from Orange county said they would quit if forced to do so. Considering some of their rulings, that seemed like a fine and honorable plan. However, after pressure from Chief Justice Ronald George, continuing education remains.

Good news for individuals in All courts. USAJudges.com exists so the public can educate each other no matter the state or court, they're in. USAJudges is the only data-base driven website available for the public to specifically address judicial conduct in the form of a report to educate others. Yes, the state is not in charge.

People can choose between creating a free mini report, or for only $45.00 in administrative costs, a comprehensive, in-depth one for what amounts to a public service donation.

Either way, the best news is the state no longer has a str anglehold on judicial information. Reasons why USAJudges.comis neccesary, and why ballot measures requiring judges to be held accountable continue.

Consider North Dakota's Judge Robert Wefald's 5k bond for 3 felonies" Although the media played up Stripper Court Judge Kevin Ross' display as a "shocking abuse of power" we believe such is not the case. Poor form? Certainly. But shocking to us is judicial apathy resulting in dead kids...and California judges in that category, have all been systematically ignored by the CJP.

It's not that those judges, such as Aviva Bobb remain on the bench, after ignoring pleas from now dead children; it's that California's top jurist, Ronald George gives them Awards for it. Now, that's shocking.

What began as a California voter revolt in 1960 to oust bad judges, almost immediately evolved into a political body to Keep them.

When Judges are involved, general readership papers Seldom name them.

And if that's not bad enough, we have California's Chief Justice Ronald George, in the case of Zeling v. County of Los Angeles, 02 S.O.S. 2400 writing the opinion the Courts Have No Duty To Screen For Weapons, after Eileen Zelig, who had a restraining order against her former husband, Dr. Harry Zelig, complained three times to bailiffs he had a gun and threatened to to kill her. Zelig was shot dead in the court hallway by her ex, in front of their six year old daughter, enroute to a child spousal support hearing.

George who now goes on at length over his fear for judicial safety, wrote that public entities weren't responsible for screening. At the time Attorney General Bill Lockyer, supported the decision. Now, what do you suppose the Commission on Judicial Performance would do with a complaint against the Chief Justice?

Complaints Up: Admonishments, down.

Click here for the Commission's complete, meager body of, Disciplined Judges from 1960 to 2004.

While this site concentrates on California judges, it's a national problem. Secret files anyone?

Consider Former LA Judge, Robert Kline's criminal charges.

See Justice For All, San Diego Style Ever wonder about the "candid" talk in Judicial chambers? Judges allow Women to be trashed, but thank God for "A Jury will do what a Judge won't.

How about, nationally, Judge Aurelio Enrique Abreu'z Midnight Visit to Two Sixteen Year Old Girls Or, consider the ones who got away. Particularly chilling,

California Judge Craig S. Kamansky - now with Inland Valley Arbitration & Mediation
San Bernardino County

In 1994, attorney Terrence Goggin, SB# 43835, filed civil rights suit, Case No. 94-7641, in Riverside Superior Court, on behalf of Plaintiff, Jason Bumpus; a boy Judge Craig Kamansky, allegedly took under his wing.

Probation officers Mildred Kelly and Thomas Callahan were also named.

According to the suit, Jason, who was in Juvenile Hall, and often given passes to see Judge Kamansky in closed chambers, was repeatedly sodomized by the judge.

The suit also alleged, while at Juvenile Hall, Jason's mother committed suicide under 'unusual' circumstances. She supposedly stabbed herself in the chest.

The suit further alleged Jason was allowed to attend the funeral, after which, he also attempted suicide; and that Judge Kamansky was allowed to remove Jason from Juvenile Hall, whereupon Jason was taken by the judge to his home.

The civil rights action settled, with the county paying for some of Judge Kamansky's defense.

Jason Bumpus committed suicide.

Ultimately, Judge Kamansky was publicly censored for one instance of bad behavior; taping over the video tapes he earlier agreed to turn over to the Commission.

The Commission on Judicial Performance, Did Not Address the allegations leading to the erased video tapes.

Judge Kamansky remains on the bench. We hope, not in Juvenile Court.

However, most people remain unaware of a really bad judge generates a lot of legal fees. Sadly, the Commission on Judicial Performance, seldom performs.

Not once in its entire existence, has the CJP ever removed a family law judge.

This includes the judge in the Susan Eubanks matter. Susan's ex warned a Vista judge Susan threatened to harm their children. Instead of responding to the threat; the judge shot the messenger. The judge ordered Eric Eubanks, the father to "Supervised visitation" as the judge thought the father might "damage" the relationship between the parent and the child.

Susan is now on death row; having killed all Four of their kids. The judge promptly sealed the case, (protecting herself), and retired.

Unfortunately she quickly returned, and now works now as a "visiting" judge.

Neither has the CJP done anything about the judge who disregarded medical findings. Unfortunately, his arrogance cost TREVOR NOLAN his life.

Same for Judge Aviva Bobb. Except in her case, the judge Refused to talk to the child who wanted to tell the judge she was afraid of her father.Court personnel said, (after the girls father killed her), it wasn't judicial policy to speak to children. (Prefering instead, to hire attorneys who 'interpret' what the child says.)

In fact, the CJP doesn't act even when a judge makes death threats.

Man Seeks Court's Protection After Judge's Threat
L.A. County jurist said in child custody hearing that he would kill his daughter's boyfriend.
By Jean Guccione
LA Times Staff Writer
October 20 2002

A 41-year-old man is asking the court for protection from his girlfriend's father, a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge who testified during a bitter child custody hearing that he would kill him. Judge James A. Kaddo testified in April that he would kill Fadi Nora because he didn't want the man near his three young grandchildren -- a remark the judge now says he regrets.
"It was a stupid thing to say, but I was a grandfather in tears," said Kaddo, recounting the April 22 court hearing.
Nora said the remark was just the latest threat that Kaddo has made against him in the last two years.
In court documents, Nora said he is so afraid of Kaddo that he moved to an undisclosed location and quit attending services at his church.
"I live under a constant threat of death," he said in a declaration filed last month in Orange County Superior Court.
Nora, who is living with Kaddo's daughter, Nadia Yammine, is asking the court to bar Kaddo from coming within 150 yards of him, his home, his car or workplace. A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 25.
The Los Angeles County district attorney's office declined last month to file criminal charges against Kaddo, who was appointed to the bench by then-Gov. George Deukmejian in 1991 and is now assigned to Van Nuys.
The 68-year-old jurist's statement is not considered an actual threat "because the specific intent necessary to commit the crime is lacking," the district attorney's investigation concluded. "Rather, his statement appears to be an inappropriate emotional response to a very charged issue."
During the hearing, Kaddo urged Commissioner Ann Dobbs to deny his daughter's bid for custody of her three children, now 8 to 13.
He said he didn't want his grandchildren near Nora, a friend of the Kaddo family for two decades until he began dating the judge's daughter.
Kaddo testified that he told Yammine: "I can't stand to have that psycho around my grand kids. I'm going to do what I have to do to save my grandchildren," according to a transcript of the hearing.
On cross-examination, Yammine's attorney, Wendy A. Herzog, asked Kaddo what he had meant.
"If it means killing him, I will do it," the judge responded.
"Killing who?" Herzog asked.
"Mr. Nora," Kaddo answered.
"Is there anything else that it could have meant?" she asked.
"That's what I had in mind," Kaddo said.
That's where the exchange ends in the court transcript. But Nora, Yammine and Herzog contend the court reporter did not capture Kaddo's final words on the subject. They assert in court documents, that Kaddo also said, "And I would do it with my bare hands if I had to."
Kaddo's attorney, Theodore A. Cohen of Beverly Hills, denied all of the allegations against his client. He said the judge's testimony was misinterpreted.
"What he intended to say was that anybody would do whatever they could to protect a child or grandchild," Cohen said. "He said what any one of us would have said" under the same circumstances.
In addition to seeking a restraining order against the judge, Nora filed a complaint with the state Commission on Judicial Performance, which investigates allegations of misconduct and disciplines errant judges.
No California judge has ever been publicly disciplined for threatening to kill another person, according to commission records. But an intemperate jurist was censured for threatening to jail a telephone company worker if the judge's phone service was interrupted. Another judge was removed from office for misconduct that included threatening to give a police officer "a .38-[caliber] vasectomy" after he cited the judge for excessive use of her car horn.
Yammine said in a declaration that the court should take the threats her father made against Nora "very, very seriously."
Nora and Yammine said their dispute with Kaddo began almost two years earlier, when Nora, a family friend, helped Yammine with her divorce from a wealthy Lebanese businessman. Kaddo wanted Yammine to return to her husband.
According to his declaration, Nora said the judge showed him four tire valves a few days after the tires on his Jeep were deflated in October 2000 in a secure garage, implying that the judge was responsible.
Kaddo, who once presided over a Compton courtroom, also threatened to "get gang members that he has done favors for as a judge to harm me," Nora said in court papers.
And a month before the heated child custody hearing, Nora said he received an anonymous call from someone who told him in Lebanese that "my days were numbered."
In court documents filed this week, Yammine accused her ex-husband of having ties to the terrorist group, Hezbollah. She said her father has sided with him in an effort to fulfill his political and business aspirations in his homeland.
Yammine also accused Kaddo of conspiring with her ex-husband to keep her children, who are U.S. citizens, in Lebanon against her will.
Cohen denied the allegations against his client. "The whole thing is just insanity," he said, noting that a Hezbollah sympathizer would never retain a Jewish attorney to represent him.
Yammine signed an agreement permitting her husband to raise their children in Lebanon. When she tried to have the stipulation overturned, her father testified against her, and she lost.
Santa Ana-based attorney Richard C. Gilbert, who is representing the couple, accused the justice system of giving Kaddo special treatment because he is a judge.
"That transcript is troubling," Gilbert said. "The commissioner [Dobbs] does not report it to the Commission on Judicial Performance or the police ... Instead, she just changes the subject."
Gilbert said temporary restraining orders are routinely granted in heated domestic situations like these. But Nora has been unable to get such an order, he said, without retaining an attorney and testifying in court with Kaddo present.
"Could you imagine," Gilbert said, "what would happen if Mr. Nora had threatened a Superior Court judge?"

That said, California isn't the Only state in need of judicial reform.

Pike County District Court Judge Jim Bob Steel Flees Accident Scene. "I Didn't Feel Good."

Repeat offender, Florida Judge John Sloop wants people to forget Secret Proceedings, and the Eleven people he illegally threw in jail. The reason? Judge Sloop says he as ADAH!

New Mexico Chief District Judge W. John Brennan Arrested On Coke Charge. "It's the Real thing!"

It is easier, however, to get rid of an indicted judge, such as for fixing divorce cases, Brooklyn, New York

Some judges, however, remain, biased, confused, or both.Former Ticket fixin' Judge Drinks NyQuil, Goes to Jail

There's a wide range of behavior, throughout the nation. Convicted of crimes

and, Exposing themselves while On the Bench

But we don't want to limit our judicial diggings, to California, at least not when Arizona is ripe for the pickings. is around.

Alameda Judge Gifford
The Recorder - March 8, 2004

Alameda County Superior Court Judge Jackson Gifford may have put his gavel in jeopardy when he allegedly tried to buy sex from a police decoy on Wednesday. After his criminal case is resolved, Gifford will likely face investigation by the Commission on Judicial Performance, the state watchdog agency that disciplines judges. A judge convicted of a misdemeanor could face anything from private admonishment to removal from the bench, with felonies and crimes involving moral turpitude being grounds for removal.

UPDATE: Judge Horndog pled, "no contest" to "Disturbing the Peace," in another demonstration of the bench and the DA take caring of their own, and paid a Two Hundred and Fifty dollar fine.

Meanwhile, we will continue to highlight those judges who continue to fund the divorce and custody industry, nationally...as in Family court - where the circus is Always in town.

As family court matters find their way to criminal courts, we likewise will highlight criminal court judges, who refuse to protect our most vulnerable. For instance, Ohio Judges like,

Jane Bond and Patricia Cosgrove

Both incarerated battered women who recanted. Bail was set at $100,000.00 for refusing to testify against the men who injure them. Clearly these judges do not understand Battered Women's Syndrome.

South Carolina also comes to mind.

Lexington County Magistrate Bruce Rutland was charged with soliciting an undercover male officer for sex at a Greenville mall and Newberry County magistrate Joseph Griffin Beckham was charged with stealing court records from fellow judge, Chief Magistrate Mark English in August 2003.

In Tennessee, Wilson County Judge, Judge Barry Tatum, told one family victim to study English and use birth control.

In a second case, involving another family whose daughter had already been removed from her home, Tatum warned he would terminate parental rights if the mother could not speak English at a fourth-grade level by a later hearing date.

The order specifically warned the mother if she does not make the effort to learn English, she is running the risk of losing any connection � legally, morally or physically � with her daughter forever.

Arkansas Judge Fred Davis II, Davis was convicted in circuit court of felony tax evasion..

Judge Huey Shepard pleads Guilty to Grand Theft by Embezzlement.

Agencys are unusually slow when it comes to addressing judicial misconduct, espcially in Juvenile and Family Court.

The MA head of the state trial court system asked the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct to investigate allegations of misconduct by the former top Plymouth County Juvenile Court judge, Robert F. Murray, accused of giving an unwanted kiss to a court officer and making inappropriate phone calls to a court clerk, according to a court employee familiar with the complaints, last January. We're waiting the results.

Judges are human beings with their own problems, but generally considered politically astute enough to disguise their own, bias, except, as reported below, when making death threats.

However, should you cling to the belief judges aren't about drumming up business, we submit San Diego's former judge, Thomas Ashworth, who, as reported in the San Diego Union Tribune, presided over a divorce, custody case that gobbling up $146,000 in fees.

There were no children involved; the custody at issue was a dog.

Naturally Judge Ashworth suggested the couple hire, (ka-ching), experts.

Getting killed at the courthouse is something California Supreme Court Judges resolutely,ignore, as the Supremes just found the State was not responsible for the last woman killed at court, in spite of her "protection order."

Unfortunately men beating up women, losing their jobs after spending time in jail, simply petitioned and received spousal support from their victims, courtesy of California's idiot judges. - - - - - -

Legislation became necessary to combat these judges as well as the Commission on Judicial Performance, whose esteemed members have ignored family court judges for their entire forty odd year history.

Both former San Diego DA, Paul Pfingst, and current DA Bonnie Dumanis, openly courted police endorsements. Alarmingly, this generally blows right by reporters.

As Brian Dickerson, summed up in his essay from the Arizona Republic.

"Judges who boast of bias must beware of slippery slope."

"Among the many unkind assertions being made about the three Republican justices seeking to retain their seats in next month's state Supreme Court balloting, the one that most angers the incumbents is the charge that they favor insurance companies and other business interests.

The incumbents' sensitivity is not hard to understand. All judges take a sacred oath to avoid even the appearance of partisanship; the rule of law hinges on their willingness to call the strikes and balls the same way regardless of who's at bat.

The charge that certain civil litigants have purchased preferential treatment from the state's highest court thus goes to the heart of the law's integrity.

So it is puzzling, to say the least, that justices who are so sensitive about their reputations for impartiality openly encourage the perceptionthat they are 'pro-police," 'pro-prosecutor," or 'pro-law enforcement."

You're unlikely to see a TV spot that shows any judge being toasted by insurance company pooh-bahs. But if past judicial campaigns offer any instruction, we will soon be inundated by commercials in which prosecutors and uniformed police officers can be seen mobbing the incumbent justices like groupies at a Britney Spears concert.

Just so you know we don't write fiction, read the latest from the Miami Herald.

Mom confronts ex-lover
A judge says he will probably release David Lusskin early from probation. The former attorney plotted to kill his pregnant girlfriend 10 years ago.
By NOAH BIERMAN

Kim Mascola uncorked a decade's worth of pent-up anger Friday as she sat nearly face to face in a small Broward County courtroom with the man who plotted to kill her and her unborn twins 10 years ago.
David Lusskin, 43, had asked for Friday's court hearing. He wanted a judge to end his probation early for those crimes. Lusskin will probably get his wish, but Mascola's speech was a dramatic reminder of the pain, anger and frustration she still feels.
She had never verbalized her feelings in such a setting, and the invective flowed freely as she spoke of Lusskin's ``greed, bigotry and the influence of his troubled family.''
''Referring to our unborn twins as tumors that needed to be destroyed, David Lusskin would not and still does not take responsibility,'' Mascola said.

At one point, believing Lusskin was whispering to his attorney, she interrupted herself to meet his eyes and scream: ``You shush while I'm speaking!''
Broward Circuit Judge Mark Speiser quickly regained control of his courtroom before allowing Mascola to finish.
Lusskin, a former Hollywood attorney, was convicted in January 1995 of trying to hire a hitman to kill Mascola, then and pregnant with his twins, because she refused to have an abortion.
The trial was televised nationally on Court TV. Lusskin was a lawyer from a wealthy family, and money has always been central to the narrative. Mascola testified on his behalf at his sentencing hearing after she was told that Lusskin's mother would pay $250,000 to help raise the twins.
Speiser said at the end of Friday's hearing that he was likely to grant Lusskin's request to leave prison early. But he said he wanted to send a message to Lusskin to pay off a substantial portion of the $39,000 child-support debt he still owes Mascola.
Lusskin's attorney, David Bogenschutz, said later that he did not know if Lusskin would pay off the debt in a lump sum. He's now paying in small monthly installments.
Lusskin was initially sentenced to 14 years in prison and five years' probation. Old gain-time rules allowed him to leave prison after fewer than six years. Under current laws, he would have to serve 13 of those years. His probation sentence ends next September, but judges often consider releasing probationers early for good behavior.
Lusskin's psychologist and close friends testified Friday that he has worked on coping with anger and depression and is not violent. His psychologist, Elizabeth Blake, said the disbarred lawyer wants to get a job in the legal profession again. She said he fervidly wants to avoid seeing Mascola or the children, who are now 10 years old.
His lawyer, David Bogenschutz, said he's been a model probationer and that releasing him early as a reward would set a good example for others on probation.
''It's just time,'' Bogenschutz said. ``Things reach their time. This is time.''
Speiser said he wanted to hear Lusskin -- who wore a short-sleave khaki shirt and boat shoes -- testify. But Bogenschutz said he and his client didn't want to give prosecutor Jeff Marcus the opportunity to cross-examine him.
Marcus argued that Lusskin should stay on probation.
He said Lusskin has used his family's money to pay the top lawyers in town, to pay $8,000 in court supervision costs ahead of time, yet claims he can't meet his child-support obligations.
''There has been no amount of money that Mr. Lusskin will not pay for himself,'' Marcus said.
``The defendants still doesn't get it.''

Continuing with, inaction.

In 2002, the private reprovals were more interesting as they relate to trampling parental rights.

A complete list of disciplined California judges is available below at: Discipline Reports. So many complaints, never a family court judge removed.

Ierferring with junvenile court actions by, Judge Michael Platt Platt's new name? Former Judge.

We interrupt this column for a brief review of some concepts Michigan school children are supposed to grasp by the time they enter high school:

1) Police and prosecutors belong to the executive branch of government.

2) Judges belong to the judicial branch, a separate and independent entity that exists, in large part, to arbitrate disputes between the executive branch and other parties.

If enforcing the law were a simple matter of supporting police officers and prosecutors, Wen Ho Lee would still be in solitary confinement. Hundreds of people whose innocence has been conclusively established by DNA testing would still be serving time for crimes someone else committed, and anyone with a badge would be able to shoot club and rob private citizens with impunity.

Most police officers and prosecutors endeavor to do the right thing. But some make mistakes, and a few are downright corrupt. Judges who ignore evidence of gross police misconduct, albeit prosecutors in their efforts to bury exculpatory evidence or declare a mistrial whenever jurors appear poised to acquit a criminal defendant aren't supporting law enforcement; they're supporting lawlessness.

I speak regularly to judges at every level of the Michigan judiciary, and I've yet to meet one who doesn't understand the importance of impartiality.

So I am forced to conclude that those who represent themselves as "pro-police" or "pro-law enforcement" do so in a cynical attempt to exploit public ignorance of the judicial function.

This might be less contemptible if the same judges were not constantly carping that no one understands their role. But you cannot have it both ways; you cannot wring your hands over the public's ignorance one day and make it the centerpiece of your re-election strategy the next.

Nor should judges who boast of their bias in criminal cases affect indignation, or even surprise, when their impartiality in other matters comes under suspicion."

To paraphrase the song lyric; "Don't think twice, it's alright" Please; think!

Although familylawcourts.com is a San Diego *inspired* California based site; we assure the reader, it's a national epidemic.

While most people understand there is no such thing as an unbiased judge, the courts have long been clever enough to borrow from theatre, utilizing black robes as props, to encourage the belief they are the very bedrock of fairness and impartiality.

It's always helpful to look inside the robe. Except, as noted, Placer County's, Judge Willoughby. Or from behind the robe, such as in Dallas, Texas...where a News Channel TV camera crew panned to Family Law Judge, Craig Fowler's computer screen, and filmed him playing solitare during a Custody hearing.

Can you spell, Misogyny?

In addressing the myth surrounding a lack of bias, Russell Engler, writing in the April, 1999, issue of Fordham Law Review, cited national studies showing that 80 percent or more of family law cases nationwide involve at least one pro se litigant.

The article continues, tellingly,

"The absence of counsel has a dramatic effect on the outcome of the proceedings. A system that routinely favors parties with lawyers over parties without, regardless of the merits of the case, cannot be viewed as impartial."

Well, Duh. Rocket science, this is not.

Addressing another myth, that courts are for the purpose of Settling differences - -

The reality? In 1999 forms were created for agencies of the courts to become more in the every day lives of people trying to live their lives. Family law particularly. The idea is monitoring parenting.

While ignoring the failure of Children's Protective Services, the Judicial Council decided to invade the parent child relationship, "in the best interest of the child."

Brand new agencies are springing up to cash in.

One of the worst, Real Solutions for Children, out of San Diego, contracts out these services, at just above minimum wage, employing people they refuse to identify by employment history.

Repeatdly refusing to provide the educational background of their just above minimum wage workers, Susan Griffin quoted CRC Rule 26.2 endorsed by the Judicial Council, stating it was their right to do so, and she's correct.

It is essential parents appeal any court ordered agency supervison. Private monitoring might be useful, but not through the larger, mill-like businesses currently in place, and geared to recommend?

More supervision, of course!

In 1991, the Commission on Judicial Performance issued a two-pound report addressing the bias in the courts. The report was two pounds because while it was agreed the level of bias was considerable, what no one agreed upon, was a solution that was readily available.

As this site demonstrates, formal complaints are seldom more than a serious waste of time.

Familylawcourts.com names judges, commissioners and attorneys you wouldn't want anywhere near your children or financial assets.

The good news is this: there is a better option. Simple, brilliantly pragmatic, and impossible to implement unless and until one responds to the concerns of all affected and effected by the end of one relationship to the transition of another, fully, and with proper weight.

Avoid the State whenever possible.

South Carolina comes to mind. Lexington County Magistrate Bruce Rutland was charged with soliciting an undercover male officer for sex at a Greenville mall and Newberry County magistrate Joseph Griffin Beckham was charged with stealing court records from fellow judge, Chief Magistrate Mark English in August 2003.

In Tennessee, Wilson County Judge, Judge Barry Tatum, told one family victim to study English and use birth control.

In a second case, involving another family whose daughter had already been removed from her home, Tatum warned he would terminate parental rights if the mother could not speak English at a fourth-grade level by a later hearing date.

The order specifically warned the mother if she does not make the effort to learn English, she is running the risk of losing any connection � legally, morally or physically � with her daughter forever.

Arkansas Judge Fred Davis II, Davis was convicted in circuit court of felony tax evasion..

Judge Huey Shepard pleads Guilty to Grand Theft by Embezzlement.

Agencys are unusually slow when it comes to addressing judicial misconduct, espcially in Juvenile and Family Court.

The MA head of the state trial court system has asked the Massachusetts Commission on Judicial Conduct to investigate allegations of misconduct by the former top Plymouth County Juvenile Court judge, Robert F. Murray, accused of giving an unwanted kiss to a court officer and making inappropriate phone calls to a court clerk, according to a court employee familiar with the complaints, last January.

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