Court Operations Oversight

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Background

I started this project mainly as a placeholder right now, to record any issues we notice about court procedures that may need further investigation.

MOST JUDGES NEVER HAVE TO RUN FOR THEIR SEAT! See more below!

Jovan Jackson "obfuscation"

Jovan Jackson was involved in operating a dispensary, Answerdam. He was arrested for selling marijuana, although he did not actually sell it himself, it was from a "legal" dispensary and only to people with physician paperwork. He was cleared in a first case (from the same evidence but a day earlier, so it was not "double jeopardy" since it was the next day), but then brought back to trial in a second case (based on the fact that although he was acquitted for the violation from the prior day, they would do it again). In the second case, they did not allow the defense to mention that running a dispensary is legal in California, and was when he was arrested.

I went to the courthouse to see this case but I did not have the department where the case would be heard.

I first walked down the hall and looked for paperwork next to the door of each hearing room. It was actually in Dept. 15, but at that courtroom they had installed metal detector screening equipment so it would not be possible to get to the display case next to the door or look in without going through the secondary screening, so I did not go through that to see the list or look in.

I went to the clerk of the court to look up the case. I had Jackson's name. The clerk first asked me if I knew his birthday. Huh? I was able to look at the screen (remarkably) and give her the birthday that was listed. Then, she said she found it, but there was nothing listed except 5 days earlier. I checked with my assistant by phone and she gave me the case number, and they still could not find it. I walked around for a while, but did not look into the courtroom where it was being held because of the security on the outside. I was leaving the courthouse and I noticed a fellow in the wheelchair who I had met at the ASA meeting the day before, and I recognized him and asked him about the case. He said it was in Dept 15 and we walked (and rolled) up together.

The judge in this case was judge Shore.

Later, I went back down to ask the clerk about it. First, I asked if they had a list of all the cases being tried that day. "We don't have that sort of list, our computers are very old and we just can't make a master list." Okay, so I then asked for the supervisor. She said that again, the case was not being heard. Then she went back, talked on the phone and worked on the computer, came back, and said that indeed, it was in Dept. 15. I asked the first woman why she could not find it, and she said that maybe she didn't go to that screen, but now it shows up.

I asked the security guards if there was any conceivable way anyone could get a weapon into the facility, since there is security at the main entrance... why do they have the extra level of security? They said they did not know, they just do what the judge wants.

It is clear to me that they desperately want to limit the number of people that show up for this case.

I was a bit disappointed also that the judge took the entire discussion of the jury instructions off the record, and proceeded to carry on lengthy discussions with the attorneys about what they wanted in and out, only opting for one detail to be put on the record, and then dismissing the court recorder completely. I have a feeling that was to limit the Judge's liability in the case regarding what the instructions were, because the discussion about what to put in or out would be very important for any challenge to the case in an appeal. The attorney for Jackson should not have agreed to taking it off the record, in my opinion, and I think it limits the ability of the public to review the cases if they do this, plus do not allow any recording devices, etc.

Images

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Timeline

• dd mmm 2008 - Description

Recent Articles and Media: (Add | All Media)

This is the most recently published 20 articles, most recent first.

• (M1363) 2013-06-26 Sidewalk chalk activist lands in court -- Trent Seibert, Union Tribune, Court Operations Oversight Judge Howard Shore
• (M1364) 2012-10-24 Jovan Jackson’s Conviction Reversed: California Appeals Court Finds Medical Marijuana Defense Applies To Club Operators, Too -- David Downs, sfgate.com, Court Operations Oversight Judge Howard Shore

Discussion List

See List Serve for all email discussion lists and to add more.

List of Judges and their term expiration.

These judges are NOT listed on the Registrar of Voters website. We asked them in 2012 for their term expiration dates. For known BAD JUDGES, we need to have good judge candidates RUN AGAINST THEM!

ID	Name	Location	Dept	Case Types	Term Ends	Notes
1	LORNA ALKSNE	Hall of Justice	SD-64	Civil	Jan-13
2	EDWARD P. ALLARD III	South County	SB-10	CRIMINAL	Jan-15
3	DONALD F. ARMENTO	North County	NC-33	TRAFFIC/MINOR OFFENSE
4	CARLOS O. ARMOUR	Juvenile	SD-J7	Juvenile	Jan-17
5	JAMES T. ATKINS	East County	EC-1	Criminal
6	KATHERINE A. BACAL	South County	SB-12	FAMILY, CRIMINAL	Jan-17
7	JEFFREY B. BARTON	Hall of Justice	SD-69	Civil	Jan-15	Good.
8	CYNTHIA A. BASHANT	Juvenile	SD-J1	Juvenile	Jan-15
9	LAURA J. BIRKMEYER	Main Courthouse	SD-4	Criminal	Jan-15	Unknown
10	GARY S. BLOCH	South County	SB-1	TRAFFIC, UNLAWFUL DETAINERS, SMALL CLAIMS	Jan-13
11	JAY M. BLOOM	Main Courthouse	SD-33	Civil	Jan-13
12	JEFFREY S. BOSTWICK	Madge Bradley	SD-PC1	PROBATE	Jan-15	Unknown.
13	BLAINE K. BOWMAN	North County	NC-10	JUVENILE	Jan-17
14	JOSEPH P. BRANNIGAN	East County	EC-16	Criminal	Jan-17
15	DAVID G. BROWN	North County	NC-17	FAMILY IC	Jan-13
16	FRANK A. BROWN	Main Courthouse	SD-23	Criminal	Jan-13
17	Gary George Kreep	Main Courthouse	SD-34	Criminal	Jan-15	Rated Unqualified by Bar. Elected in June 2012 election.
18	GARY BUBIS	East County	EC-18	Criminal	Jan-17
19	CAROLYN M. CAIETTI	Juvenile	SD-J2	Juvenile	Jan-15
20	YVONNE ESPERANZA CAMPOS	Main Courthouse	SD-10	Criminal	Jan-13
21	TIMOTHY M. CASSERLY	North County	NC-31	CIVIL IC	Jan-15	Very good judge.
22	GEORGE W. CLARKE	Main Courthouse	SD-25	Criminal	Jan-13
23	RICHARD G. CLINE	North County	NC-2	TRIAL/PROBATE	Jan-15
24	PATRICIA K. COOKSON	East County	EC-10	Criminal	Jan-13
25	GONZALO CURIEL	Hall of Justice	SD-60	Civil	Jan-15
26	ROBERT P. DAHLQUIST	North County	NC-29	CIVIL IC	Jan-13	Horrible
27	DAVID J. DANIELSEN	Main Courthouse	SD-24	ASSISTANT PRESIDING	Jan-15	Good
28	WILLIAM S. DATO	Hall of Justice	SD-67	Civil	Jan-13
29	CINDY D. DAVIS	Main Courthouse	SD-5	CIVIL
30	PETER C DEDDEH	Main Courthouse	SD-38	Criminal	Jan-13
31	STEVEN R. DENTON	Hall of Justice	SD-73	Civil	Jan-15	Retired
32	FRANCIS M. DEVANEY	South County	SB-9	CRIMINAL	Jan-13
33	KELLY C. DOBLADO	Main Courthouse	SD-43	Family
34	JOHN S. EINHORN	Main Courthouse	SD-58	Criminal	Jan-15	Decent
35	HARRY M. ELIAS	North County	NC-25	TRIAL	Jan-15	Good
36	KEVIN A. ENRIGHT	Hall of Justice	SD-74	Civil	Jan-17	Great (Republican)
37	CHARLES W. ERVIN	East County	EC-2	Criminal	Jan-13
38	ANA L. ESPANA	South County	SB-15	CRIMINAL	Jan-17	Good
39	HERBERT J. EXARHOS	East County	EC-17	Criminal	Jan-13
40	EUGENIA A. EYHERABIDE	Main Courthouse	SD-31	Criminal	Jan-13
41	LISA A. FOSTER	Main Courthouse	SD-57	Civil	Jan-17
42	JEFFREY F. FRASER	Main Courthouse	SD-37	Criminal	Jan-13
43	RONALD F. FRAZIER	Juvenile	SD-J6	Juvenile	Jan-17
44	PETER L. GALLAGHER	Main Courthouse	SD-17	CRIMINAL/DRUG COURT	Jan-15
45	PATRICIA GARCIA	East County	EC-3	Criminal	Jan-13
46	WILLIAM C. GENTRY, JR.	East County	EC-5	FAMILY	Jan-17
47	CHARLES R. GILL	Main Courthouse	SD-18	Criminal	Jan-15
48	DAVID M. GILL	Main Courthouse	SD-28	Criminal	Jan-15	Ancient, but good.
49	CHRISTINE K. GOLDSMITH	Family	SD-F3	Family	Jan-13
50	DANIEL B. GOLDSTEIN	North County	NC-22	TRIAL	Jan-15
51	ALVIN E. GREEN, JR.	South County	SB-8	CRIMINAL	Jan-15
52	MICHAEL S. GROCH	South County	SB-4	FAMILY	Jan-13
53	ERNEST M. GROSS	North County	NC-8	SMALL CLAIMS/UNLAWFUL DETAINERS
54	GARRY G. HAEHNLE	South County	SB-11	JUVENILE DEPENDENCY	Jan-15
55	LAURA W HALGREN	Main Courthouse	SD-29	Criminal	Jan-15	Okay but conservative
56	MAUREEN F. HALLAHAN	Family	SD-F5	Family	Jan-17
57	LOUIS R. HANOIAN	Main Courthouse	SD-54	Criminal	Jan-15
58	ALBERT T. HARUTUNIAN III	Main Courthouse	SD-6	Criminal	Jan-13
59	JUDITH F. HAYES	Hall of Justice	SD-68	Civil	Jan-15	Not favorite, hit or miss. Negative.
60	ESTEBAN HERNANDEZ	South County	SB-17	Criminal	Jan-15
61	MARSHALL Y. HOCKETT	North County	NC-14	CRIMINAL	Jan-15	Pretty good.
62	SUSAN D. HUGUENOR	Family	SD-F1	Family	Jan-17	Good
63	MICHAEL J. IMHOFF	North County	NC-9	JUVENILE
64	TAMILA E. IPEMA	North County	NC-4	TRIAL	Jan-17
65	CAROL ISACKSON	Juvenile	SD-J5	Juvenile	Jan-15
66	GERALD C. JESSOP	Madge Bradley	SD-F8	Family	Jan-17
67	LARRY W. JONES	North County	NC-32	TRAFFIC/MINOR OFFENSE
68	GALE E. KANESHIRO	Main Courthouse	SD-40	Criminal	Jan-13
69	AARON H. KATZ	North County	NC-24	SUPERVISING	Jan-13
70	KERI G. KATZ	Main Courthouse	SD-44	Criminal
71	ROBERT J. KEARNEY	North County	NC-20	TRIAL/CRIMINAL LAW & MOTION	Jan-17
72	JULIA CRAIG KELETY	Madge Bradley	SD-PC2	PROBATE	Jan-13
73	K. MICHAEL KIRKMAN	North County	NC-5	CRIMINAL MASTER CALENDAR	Jan-17
74	EVAN P. KIRVIN	East County	EC-6	FAMILY	Jan-15
75	ROGER W. KRAUEL	East County	EC-19	Criminal	Jan-13
76	WILLIAM H. KRONBERGER, JR.	Main Courthouse	SD-39	Criminal	Jan-13
77	KIMBERLEE A. LAGOTTA	North County	NC-6	CRIMINAL	Jan-13
78	MELINDA J. LASATER	Main Courthouse	SD-32	Criminal	Jan-17
79	JOAN M. LEWIS	Hall of Justice	SD-65	Civil	Jan-13
80	KATHLEEN M. LEWIS	South County	SB-14	CRIMINAL	Jan-15
81	LANTZ LEWIS	East County	EC-8	Criminal	Jan-17
82	MARGO L. LEWIS	Family	SD-F2	Family	Jan-13
83	FREDERIC L. LINK	Main Courthouse	SD-26	Civil	Jan-15	Best judge in the world, fabulous.
84	ROBERT C. LONGSTRETH	Family	SD-F4	Family	Jan-17
85	JEANNIE LOWE	North County	NC-18	FAMILY IC
86	EARL H. MAAS III	North County	NC-28	CIVIL IC	Jan-15	Good
87	FREDERICK MAGUIRE	Main Courthouse	SD-53	Criminal	Jan-13
88	RUNSTON G. MAINO	North County	NC-26	TRIAL	Jan-13
89	SHARON B. MAJORS-LEWIS	East County	EC-4	Criminal	Jan-13
90	FRANCISCO P. MARTY, JR	South County	SB-2	TRAFFIC, UNLAWFUL DETAINERS, SMALL CLAIMS
91	WILLIAM H MCADAM	Madge Bradley	SD-F9	Family	Jan-13
92	WILLIAM J. MCGRATH	East County	EC-9	Criminal	Jan-13
93	EDLENE C. MCKENZIE	Family	SD-F6	Family
94	KENNETH J. MEDEL	South County	SB-7	CIVIL	Jan-13
95	JOHN S. MEYER	Hall of Justice	SD-61	Civil	Jan-15	Plaintiff's Lawyer, not much patience. OK. Ruled against Ballot Acess Lawsuit
96	AMALIA L. MEZA	Main Courthouse	SD-19	Criminal	Jan-17
97	RICHARD E. MILLS	North County	NC-21	TRIAL	Jan-13
98	RICHARD R. MONROY	Juvenile	SD-J8	Criminal	Jan-17
99	DWAYNE K. MORING	Main Courthouse	SD-30	Criminal	Jan-17
100	WILLIAM R. NEVITT, JR.	Main Courthouse	SD-52	Civil	Jan-15	Bad. Possible target.
101	THOMAS P. NUGENT	North County	NC-30	CIVIL IC	Jan-13
102	ROBERT F. O'NEILL	Main Courthouse	SD-56	Criminal	Jan-17
103	DAVID B. OBERHOLTZER	Juvenile	SD-J9	Juvenile	Jan-17
104	ADRIENNE A. ORFIELD	North County	NC-1	CRIMINAL/PC 1210	Jan-13
105	LAURA H. PARSKY	Main Courthouse	SD-27	Criminal	Jan-15	"Bad."
106	GREGORY W. POLLACK	North County	NC-16	FAMILY IC	Jan-17
107	HARRY L. POWAZEK	North County	NC-23	TRIAL/DRUG CT	Jan-17
108	RONALD S. PRAGER	Hall of Justice	SD-71	Civil	Jan-15	Good.
109	ALLAN J. PRECKEL	East County	EC-12	Criminal	Jan-17
110	JOEL M. PRESSMAN	Hall of Justice	SD-66	Civil	Jan-17
111	PATTI C. RATEKIN	North County	NC-19	FAMILY IC
112	ROBERT C. RICE	Main Courthouse	SD-2	Criminal
113	TERRIE E. ROBERTS	South County	SB-5	TRAFFIC, UNLAWFUL DETAINERS, SMALL CLAIMS
114	CHARLES G. ROGERS	Main Courthouse	SD-48	Criminal	Jan-13
115	DAVID M. RUBIN	Main Courthouse	SD-41	Family	Jan-13
116	LISA C. SCHALL	Main Courthouse	SD-46	Civil	Jan-15	Has had some problems, like DUI, etc.
117	POLLY H. SHAMOON	Juvenile	SD-J10	Juvenile	Jan-17
118	RODERICK W. SHELTON	South County	SB-6	FAMILY	Jan-13	Good, Democrat.
119	HOWARD H. SHORE	Main Courthouse	SD-15	Criminal	Jan-15	Jovan Jackson trial: defense could not say that dispensaries are legal in CA. Jeff Olson: Would not allow any mention of First Amendment or Freedom of Speech in sidewalk chalk case.
120	MICHAEL T. SMYTH	Main Courthouse	SD-50	CRIMINAL	Jan-15
121	KENNETH K. SO	Main Courthouse	SD-55	Criminal	Jan-13
122	STEPHANIE SONTAG	South County	SB-16	CRIMINAL	Jan-17
123	MARTIN W. STAVEN	North County	NC-7	CIVIL/CRIMINAL/DOMESTIC CALENDAR
124	JACQUELINE M. STERN	North County	NC-27	CIVIL IC	Jan-15	Not brightest bulb, unpredictable. C-
125	STEVEN E. STONE	Main Courthouse	SD-45	Family	Jan-13
126	RICHARD E. L. STRAUSS	Hall of Justice	SD-75	Civil	Jan-15	Can't stand him. Must be close to retirement. "Weird" D
127	EDDIE C. STURGEON	East County	EC-14	CIVIL	Jan-15	Fabulous, but ruled against contest handled by Moot regarding ballots tossed out due to address.
128	RONALD L. STYN	Hall of Justice	SD-62	Civil	Jan-15	Good. Smart. But conservative.
129	DAVID M. SZUMOWSKI	Main Courthouse	SD-12	Criminal	Jan-15	Blind but bright, not bad.
130	TIMOTHY B. TAYLOR	Hall of Justice	SD-72	Civil	Jan-13
131	JOHN M. THOMPSON	East County	EC-11	Criminal	Jan-17
132	RANDA TRAPP	Hall of Justice	SD-70	Civil	Jan-13
133	ROBERT J. TRENTACOSTA	Main Courthouse	SD-P	PRESIDING	Jan-15	Fabulous. Best ever.
134	LEO VALENTINE, JR.	Main Courthouse	SD-49	Criminal	Jan-17
135	LUIS R. VARGAS	Hall of Justice	SD-63	Civil	Jan-13
136	SIM VON KALINOWSKI	North County	NC-3	TRIAL/MISC CIVIL CALENDAR	Jan-17
137	TIMOTHY R. WALSH	Main Courthouse	SD-11	Criminal	Jan-15	unknown
138	THEODORE M. WEATHERS	Main Courthouse	SD-14	Criminal	Jan-13
139	JOAN P. WEBER	Main Courthouse	SD-51	Criminal	Jan-13
140	KERRY WELLS	Main Courthouse	SD-36	Criminal	Jan-17
141	ADAM WERTHEIMER	Main Courthouse	SD-42	Family
142	DARLENE A. WHITE	East County	EC-7	FAMILY LAW
143	RICHARD S. WHITNEY	Main Courthouse	SD-47	TRIALS	Jan-15	Sentenced Andrew Fischer to 30 days even though the prosecution only sought time served.
144	BROWDER A. WILLIS III	Juvenile	SD-J4	Juvenile	Jan-15	Unknown.
145	LEE C. WITHAM	Main Courthouse	SD-3	CITY JAIL ARRAIGNMENT
146	JOEL R WOHLFEIL	East County	EC-15	CIVIL	Jan-17	Fair judge, ruled in favor of our claims in Election Audit Lawsuit
147	WILLIAM Y. WOOD	North County	NC-15	FAMILY IC
148	MARGIE G. WOODS	Main Courthouse	SD-35	Criminal	Jan-15	Good.