Post by WaTcHeR on Nov 29, 2005 14:27:06 GMT -5
give the Constitution a bad name!
November 28, 2005 - SAN FRANCISCO – A state judicial watchdog agency has removed a Los Angeles County judge from the bench, concluding Superior Court Judge Kevin Ross engaged in "a shocking abuse of power" that led to the wrongful conviction and two-day jail stay by a woman challenging a traffic infraction.
The judge was also cited for filming a pilot television series, "Mobile Court," in which a real small-claims case was heard in a Los Angeles strip club, with Ross presiding.
The most serious charges concern Ross throwing a woman in jail who was challenging a seat belt violation in 2003. The judge concluded that she lied when she said she wasn't the motorist who was pulled over and ordered bailiffs to jail her. Ross never read the new charge to the woman, never informed her of her right to an attorney or the right to challenge the case, according to the Commission on Judicial Performance. Once officials learned of the woman's plight, another judge released her and dismissed the case.
The commission concluded Nov. 16 that Ross illegally assumed "the function of the prosecutor to add additional charges." The panel said Ross tried to cover up the 2003 jailing during hearings before the commission.
"Judge Ross' manifest and pervasive lack of honesty and accountability throughout these proceedings compel our unanimous conclusion that we must remove him from office," the commission wrote in a ruling that can be appealed directly to the California Supreme Court.
Part of Ross' deception, the commission concluded, was Ross informing the commission he said he ordered his clerk to release the woman. The watchdog agency also disputed the judge's claims he believed the woman would get a chance to challenge the charges in a different court before her incarceration, and that she would be automatically released from jail because of crowding.
Ross, who first won election to the bench in 1999 after defeating a sitting judge from Inglewood, said in a statement that he was unsure whether he would appeal the commission's decision.
"I accept complete responsibility for those specific actions that did not exemplify the highest standards of judicial excellence," Ross said.
>>>>> There's just too many Judge's out there that are on power trips with big ego's, that need's to be stopped!
November 28, 2005 - SAN FRANCISCO – A state judicial watchdog agency has removed a Los Angeles County judge from the bench, concluding Superior Court Judge Kevin Ross engaged in "a shocking abuse of power" that led to the wrongful conviction and two-day jail stay by a woman challenging a traffic infraction.
The judge was also cited for filming a pilot television series, "Mobile Court," in which a real small-claims case was heard in a Los Angeles strip club, with Ross presiding.
The most serious charges concern Ross throwing a woman in jail who was challenging a seat belt violation in 2003. The judge concluded that she lied when she said she wasn't the motorist who was pulled over and ordered bailiffs to jail her. Ross never read the new charge to the woman, never informed her of her right to an attorney or the right to challenge the case, according to the Commission on Judicial Performance. Once officials learned of the woman's plight, another judge released her and dismissed the case.
The commission concluded Nov. 16 that Ross illegally assumed "the function of the prosecutor to add additional charges." The panel said Ross tried to cover up the 2003 jailing during hearings before the commission.
"Judge Ross' manifest and pervasive lack of honesty and accountability throughout these proceedings compel our unanimous conclusion that we must remove him from office," the commission wrote in a ruling that can be appealed directly to the California Supreme Court.
Part of Ross' deception, the commission concluded, was Ross informing the commission he said he ordered his clerk to release the woman. The watchdog agency also disputed the judge's claims he believed the woman would get a chance to challenge the charges in a different court before her incarceration, and that she would be automatically released from jail because of crowding.
Ross, who first won election to the bench in 1999 after defeating a sitting judge from Inglewood, said in a statement that he was unsure whether he would appeal the commission's decision.
"I accept complete responsibility for those specific actions that did not exemplify the highest standards of judicial excellence," Ross said.
>>>>> There's just too many Judge's out there that are on power trips with big ego's, that need's to be stopped!