Judge Who Decided to ‘Teach a Lesson’ Is Ordered Removed

The California Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the removal of a Placer County municipal judge who sentenced a defendant to jail after he refused to plead guilty in return for not being locked up.

The judge, Richard J. Ryan, 41, of Roseville, had said he wanted to “teach a lesson” to the defendant’s attorney for seeking a jury trial for his client, according to the court.

Ryan told a reporter the sentence was intended to discourage time-consuming jury trials, the court said, but later, when asked to justify the sentence, the judge falsely claimed the defendant had committed perjury.

The justices, in a harsh condemnation, called Ryan’s actions “misconduct of the worst kind” because it showed his willingness to “fabricate justifications” for his acts.

The court noted that judges are prohibited from imposing a more severe sentence on a defendant because he elects to go to trial.

“Such conduct by a judge chills the exercise of the constitutional right to trial by jury,” the justices said.

In a unanimous and unsigned 44-page opinion, the court upheld the recommendation of the state Judicial Performance Commission that Ryan be removed for a wide range of incidents, including four acts of “willful misconduct.”

Tuesday’s decision marked the seventh time the court has ordered the removal of a judge since the watchdog investigative commission was established in 1960. In another case, the court ordered the involuntary retirement of state Supreme Court Justice Marshall F. McComb in 1977.

Among other things, the commission charged Ryan with abusing his contempt powers by jailing a losing defendant in a civil suit for remarking “you can’t get blood out of a turnip” as she left the courtroom. The woman was sent to jail for 24 hours without notice or an opportunity to be heard in what the court called “another inexcusable example” of Ryan’s abuse of authority.

In another incident, Ryan was accused of telling a joke about oral sex to two female attorneys who appeared among others before the judge in his chambers to conduct a preliminary hearing.

Official Capacity

Ryan later apologized, but the court said that because the judge was acting in an official capacity when he told the joke, he had committed misconduct.

The improper sentencing charge arose when the defendant, David Wiggins, appeared before the judge after being accused of driving under the influence of alcohol. Offered no time in jail if he pleaded guilty, Wiggins refused and asked for a jury trial.

Ryan, according to the court, privately told a prosecutor he would teach Wiggins’ attorney “a lesson” and sentence the defendant to 30 days in jail if the jury convicted him. The sentence could be justified by stating that Wiggins had committed perjury at his trial, the judge was quoted as saying.

Wiggins was convicted and Ryan sentenced him to 30 days in jail, an unusually severe sentence for such an offense. When asked by the defense lawyer to state the reason for the sentence, the judge refused.

Challenged Sentence

Later, when Wiggins challenged the sentence in a habeas corpus proceeding and a Superior Court judge asked Ryan to justify his actions, Ryan said Wiggins had committed perjury at trial, even though such an act had neither been charged or determined, the justices said.

Ryan was elected to Placer County Municipal Court in 1983 after being elected and serving on the Justice Court for four years. Prior to 1979, he practiced law in Auburn.

Under the court’s ruling, Ryan, who was suspended from the bench with pay while his case was before the justices, will be permitted to practice law.