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Attorneys Victimized by Judges |
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Attorneys Victimized by Judges |
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June 2010
06-09-10 -- City Weekly, recently reported how the Utah State Bar is considering a rule change that could mean conduct reprimands for lawyers who don’t defend the justice system in Utah. Even prior to the rule proposal one attorney was cited for unprofessional conduct for criticizing justice courts in a recent article. . . . Charles Schultz, attorney cited in CW's March article "Box Elder’s Broken Court” was reprimanded for conduct “prejudicial to the administration of justice.” His quotes for the article in reference to justice courts were: “To use the term ‘justice’ for these courts is a joke.” In reference to Judge Kevin Christensen mentioned in the story Schultz was quoted as saying that he “routinely fails to advise [defendant’s] of their rights. It’s a complete power trip for him.” . . . Schultz is astounded that a strengthening of the rule being used against him is now being proposed. “What is next? Will lawyers be required to kneel before entering court buildings?” Schultz writes in an e-mailed statement. Will lawyers be required to call judges ‘Your Worship, Your Holiness, Your Majesty,’ or some other reverent term?" . . . What’s interesting about the citation is that it seems a precursor to the new proposed rule. Schultz sees a direct link between bad publicity the justice courts have received and the proposed rule change. May 2010
U.S. Supreme Court won't hear jailed L.A. lawyer's contempt of court case
05-25-10 -- After a Los Angeles County Superior Court judge sent him to jail indefinitely for contempt of court last year, veteran attorney Richard Fine vowed to take his case all the way to the nation's highest court. . . . "To fight me is to fight me all the way to the Supreme Court," he said in a jailhouse interview with The Times last May. . . . On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up Fine's petition, effectively putting an end to the attorney's dogged legal quest to end his confinement. . . . The 70-year-old antitrust and taxpayer advocate attorney has been sitting in solitary confinement in Men's Central Jail for about a year and three months after Judge David Yaffe found him in contempt in March 2009. The judge ordered him to stay in jail until he is ready to follow court orders and answer questions about his finances. . . . From his cell, Fine has filed habeas corpus petitions for his release in the California Supreme Court, district court, and the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals alleging that Yaffe was biased against him and should have recused himself from the contempt-of-court case. Fine contends that his legal troubles stem from his challenges to county-funded benefits that judges receive on top of their state pay.
Ex-lawyer jailed 14 months, but not charged with a crime
More details on the Special Investigations Unit's blog
When Are Illegal Judicial
Payments Bribes?
05-17-10 -- A nine-minute news video features two public interest attorneys whose long legal battles against California court corruption have finally reached the highest courts in the land, disclosing their prospects for victory in their two separate cases. Watch here: http://www.fulldisclosure.net/Blogs/86.php / La County Wins All But 3 Cases In Court . . . Both cases involve illegal payments made by the County of Los Angeles to State Judges which in court documents have been referred to as "bribes" and address the little known 2009 State legislation (Senate Bill SBX 211) that attempted to make the payments over the past twenty-three years retroactively "legal" along with criminal immunity from prosecution. On May 20, 2010, the U S Supreme Court, will have before them the issue of illegal payments being used as "bribes" when they consider whether or not to grant a Petition for Writ of Certiorari submitted by Richard I. Fine. (Richard I. Fine vs LA County Sheriff Leroy Baca Case No. 10-cv-0048)
Judge to be reprimanded by Fla. Supreme Court
02-12-10 -- A Seminole County judge will be publicly reprimanded by the Florida Supreme Court for judicial misconduct. . . . The high court made the decision Thursday for Judge Ralph Eriksson after a lengthy delay. . . . The Judicial Qualifications Commission had found him guilty for jailing a man to punish his lawyer and for being insensitive to those asking for domestic violence injunctions. The panel recommended the public reprimand as punishment. The 62-year-old Eriksson said he never did anything wrong intentionally. . . . Serving as his own attorney, he appealed the decision and asked for a new trial. On Thursday, the Florida Supreme Court said no. IN RE INQUIRY CONCERNING A JUDGE ERIKSSON /
Sheriff hospitalizing 2 attorneys questioned
02-10-10 -- Dr. Zernik, Ph.D. is questioning Los Angeles Sheriff Department Chief Medical Officer Dr. Clark about claims of the Department’s false hospitalizations of the two attorneys who had filed complaints alleging corruption of LA judges subjecting 98 million Californians to be stripped of their Constitutional and human rights. . . . Attorneys Richard Fine and Ronald Gottschalk had separately filed complaints alleging LA Superior Court judge corruption. They were both falsely hospitalized with no probable medical cause according to human rights defender Dr. Zernik in his letter to Dr. Clark. . . . “Such cases were not unique,” Dr. Zernik wrote. . . . After Dr. Zernik published and advertised facts about the two attorney’s alleged false hospitalizations by force, “others came forward and stated that they were subjected to similar treatment by the Sheriff’s Department,” he wrote in the letter.
Calif. Appeals Court Dings Judge Over Contempt Case
02-09-10 -- A California appeals court came down on a San Mateo County Superior Court judge in a published opinion Friday, criticizing the way the trial court handled the contempt case of an elderly, cash-strapped attorney who failed to pay $10,000 in court sanctions. . . . In a divorce case, attorney Henry Koehler failed to return confidential documents belonging to his client's parents-in-law, and his side was slapped with the $10,000 discovery sanctions. . . . When he didn't pay, the court -- apparently Judge Susan Etezadi -- ordered him to serve five days in jail on three occasions. . . . In a strongly worded opinion (pdf), 1st District Court of Appeal Justice James Richman wrote that judges need to know the due process rights associated with different types of contempt, and that the court's actions "did not measure up to that law, not by a long shot." Richman, joined by Justices J. Anthony Kline and Paul Haerle, granted Koehler's habeas petition, "bringing an end to a most unfortunate chapter in this family law saga."
Judge Eases Penalty for Austin Lawyer Who Made Obscene Gesture in Court
02-04-10 -- After determining Wednesday that he had jurisdiction to hear Austin, Texas, solo attorney Adam Reposa's request to modify the manner and means in which Reposa serves a 90-day sentence for criminal contempt, Senior District Judge Paul Davis of Austin ordered that Reposa remain confined in the Travis County Jail through Feb. 12 instead of for the entire 90 days. "I want you to be there a full 10 days," Davis told Reposa, who appeared before the judge in striped jail garb. . . . Davis further ordered that after Feb. 12, Reposa is permitted to participate in the Travis County Sheriff's Weekend Alternative Program, know as SWAP, in which he will perform work in the community or for the county on weekends but will remain out of the jail. Davis also ordered Reposa to wear an electronic monitor and said Reposa would receive jail credit while wearing it. . . . Davis said he was making it a condition that Reposa faithfully attend to all the needs of his girlfriend Susan McCleary and the child they will have. McCleary testified at Wednesday's hearing that their baby is due March 5 and that she needs Reposa's help at home. "I don't have any other relatives in Austin," she told the judge.
Texas lawyer gets 90 days for rolling eyes
02-03-10 -- Down in Texas a lawyer will spend 90 days in jail because he rolled his eyes in court. . . . The defense attorney says he made the gesture at the prosecutor during a trial, but the judge thought it was aimed at her and slapped him with a charge for contempt. . . . The lawyer now says it's a mistake he won't make again. |
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to the cases that have been filed and argued before the judges. I am talking about judicial opinions that falsify the facts of the cases that have been argued, judicial opinions that make disingenuous use or omission of material authorities,
judicial opinions that
cover up these things with no-publication and no-citation rules." |
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Updated
02/04/2012
Richard Fine, 70, has been in
solitary confinement since March 2009, taking his case all the
way to the top court. He says he will continue to fight.
05-24-10 --
