San Francisco Judge Reprimanded for Putdowns, PD Dismissals
A San Francisco jurist slated to become presiding judge of the superior court has been reprimanded for poor treatment of lawyers.
Judge James McBride was admonished for making sarcastic and rude comments to lawyers, abruptly dismissing public defenders from several cases, and advancing a trial date without counsel’s consent, report the San Francisco Chronicle and Daily Journal (sub. req.). Most of the misconduct cited involves cases from 2006 and 2007 when McBride was a supervisor in criminal court. He was transferred out of the job following complaints, according to the Daily Journal story.
McBride’s lawyer, James Murphy, told the Daily Journal that the California Commission on Judicial Performance had ignored important facts concerning the weightiest charge of advancing a trial date. Murphy said the defendant, who was charged with a minor offense, had been jailed, and McBride was worried he would remain there over Christmas.
Murphy also told the publication that his client would be the first to admit he used sarcasm in court. Murphy said the job of judge requires a lot of strength to keep cases moving, and sometimes it’s very stressful.
The decision (PDF) cited several sarcastic comments made by McBride. In one case, McBride commented on a defendant on probation arrested for impersonating a police officer. “So we have a misdemeanor running around as a cop holding people hostage, right? That’s good,” McBride told the prosecutor. “And somebody just woke up and decided to file a motion to revoke, huh?”
In one case in which McBride dismissed an assistant public defender from five cases, McBride appeared to be “acting out of pique” because the public defender had not shown up in court a few days before as she prepared for a misdemeanor trial, the commission said. The public defender’s supervisor had instead appeared for her. In another case, he removed a different assistant public defender from a case after she had failed to show up in court, citing a calendaring error.
