Judge Faces Ouster on Charges of Misconduct

The state Supreme Court has been asked to remove from the bench a Municipal judge accused of a wide range of misconduct, including sentencing a defendant to jail for refusing to plead guilty in return for not being imprisoned.

The unusual action was sought this week by the state Judicial Performance Commission in a 26-page report charging Placer County Judge Richard J. Ryan with “conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice.”

The court has removed only six judges from office since the commission was created in 1960 to investigate complaints and recommend discipline for judicial misconduct.

Some Accusations

Among other things, Ryan was accused of:

- Dismissing drug charges against a defendant and later telling the prosecutor and public defender it was because she “had shown him her breasts;” the commission reached no conclusion on whether the incident actually took place.

- Jailing a defendant in a small-claims case for 24 hours for contempt of court, without giving her notice or a chance to be heard; the judge had overheard the woman complain as she left the courtroom about his order requiring her to pay a judgment to a drug store to compensate for her daughter’s shoplifting.

- Improperly telephoning and urging a prosecutor to bring felony charges against a defendant whose case the judge was hearing and, in another case, allowing a defendant to confess and then sentencing him to jail without the presence of his counsel.

- Frequently being tardy or absent from the courthouse, burdening his fellow judges and making it more difficult for officers to obtain search warrants and the public to do court business.

- Offending women attorneys by telling obscene jokes in his chambers.

Can’t Act as Judge

Under the state Constitution, Ryan is prohibited from acting as a judge, without loss of pay, while the court considers his removal.

It is not known whether Ryan will contest the commission’s recommendation to the court. Neither the judge nor his attorney responded Friday to telephone inquiries.

The commission asserted that in 1984, Ryan, in a standard plea-bargaining process, had told the defendant in a drunk-driving case that he would not go to jail if he pleaded guilty instead of demanding a jury trial. When the offer was refused, the judge told the prosecutor he was going to “teach the defendant’s attorney a lesson” by sentencing his client to 30 days in jail, the commission said.

After the defendant was convicted in a jury trial, the judge made good his threat and issued a 30-day sentence--but refused a defense request to state his reasons, as required by law. The judge told a local newspaper that he rendered the sentence to discourage costly and time-consuming trials, observing that “there has to be some incentive not to go to trial,” the commission said.

When the defendant brought a habeas corpus action challenging the sentence, Ryan asserted that a judge did not have to reveal his reasons because of a right to “judicial privacy.” When ordered to do so by a higher court, he claimed that the sentence was based on the defendant’s “perjury.”

The commission concluded that the evidence was “clear and convincing” that the judge acted “with improper motives that amounted to bad faith.”

Ryan also was found by the commission to have “lowered public esteem” for the judiciary by telling obscene jokes to women attorneys in his chambers. Later, the judge apologized to some of those present at the time, it said.

The commission voted 5 to 2 to recommend Ryan’s removal from the bench--the maximum penalty for misconduct. The two dissenters favored a lesser penalty of public censure. The commission does not disclose the votes of individual members.

Ryan, 40, practiced law in Auburn, Calif., before being elected to Justice Court in 1978. He was elected to the Municipal Court in the Roseville-Rocklin district of Placer County in 1982.