Judge Got Jurors to Sign His Petition for Reelection

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David A. Workman thought he could “save a little time” when he needed to gather signatures for his reelection papers by enlisting the help of the jury in a murder case pending before him.

Workman, 58, who is unopposed in seeking a new, six-year term, believes he did nothing wrong in getting 13 jurors and alternates in the jail-house slaying case to sign the petition.

“I am aware of no canon (of judicial ethics) or case or statute on the subject that would preclude a judge from asking any citizen to sign a petition,” he said Tuesday.

The judge said he “carefully explained” to jurors that they were not obliged to sign the document and told them that, because the election was uncontested, “it was not as if they were being asked to choose sides.”

While agreeing that there is no specific law or canon to cover the situation, other authorities on the judiciary questioned the wisdom of involving jurors in the election process.

“It is not the usual procedure,” Constance E. Dove, executive director of the California Judges Assn., said Tuesday, noting that a problem would arise “if jurors felt they had to sign, if they had no choice.”

Informed about Workman’s conduct, Peter Gubbins, an investigating attorney for the state Commission on Judicial Performance, speculated about the possible consequences such behavior might have on how jurors “view the administration of justice.”

“It might make them look at a judge in a different light . . . as a politician more concerned about his election than about the fate of the defendant in front of him,” Gubbins said.

One of the jurors, Glenn R. Davis, 29, a real estate appraiser from Pasadena, said:

“I didn’t give it (Workman’s action) much thought. The judge came in without his gown. I thought it was casual, not formal. Other than that it didn’t strike me funny.

“We were so wrapped up in the case, it was kind of a break, a change, in the proceedings.”

When Workman approached panel members in the jury room in late February, the murder trial was in its sixth week.

“By that time the jury knows you. You’re not a stranger,” the judge said. “They were there and it was a way that I could save a little time.”

He said he got the remaining 27 signatures on his petition at a church social.

The four-month trial ended April 8 in a voluntary manslaughter verdict against Paul Calles, a reputed member of the Mexican Mafia prison gang. Both Calles and a co-defendant, who was acquitted, represented themselves.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Jeffrey C. Jonas, a co-prosecutor in the case, declined to comment on Workman’s action, noting that additional legal proceedings against Calles are scheduled.

Workman, a former deputy Los Angeles city attorney and a judge since 1980, won his Superior Court seat in 1982. He has been handling civil cases since March.