Judge Let Son, Pals Snub Law, Jury Told

A Beverly Hills Municipal Court judge, accused of improperly suspending fines on more than 200 parking tickets issued to autos driven by his son and the youth’s friends, in effect granted the youth “a license to break the parking laws of Beverly Hills,” a Los Angeles County prosecutor told a jury Tuesday.

In his opening statement in the misdemeanor conspiracy trial of Judge Charles D. Boags, Deputy Dist. Atty. Richard Healey said, “I think the evidence makes it pretty clear that there was an agreement between Judge Boags and his son, Marty, as to how Marty’s (parking) tickets were to be handled.

“One of the parts of that agreement,” Healey added, “seems to be that Marty didn’t have to pay.”

Basis of Charges

By suspending fines on tickets issued to two cars owned by the judge himself and driven by a family member, Boags illegally conspired to obstruct justice and the due administration of law, Healey told the Beverly Hills Municipal Court jury. The tickets were issued between 1984 and 1986.

Richard G. Hirsch, one of Boags’ two defense attorneys, told jurors that even if the judge’s conduct broke the bounds of judicial propriety, Boags did not commit a crime.

Sentencing, including the imposition or suspension of fines, is a matter wholely reserved to the discretion of a judge, who is answerable to the public through the election process, Hirsch said.

“I believe the evidence in this case will show a dangerous attempt by the prosecution to interfere with the fundamental rights and responsibilities of a member of the bench,” Hirsch said.

In addition, the attorney said, Boags initialed most of the tickets he handled and filed them with the court clerk. “Everything that occurred in this case was done on the record, subject to public scrutiny. Is this, I ask you, the stuff from which conspiracies are made?” Hirsch said.

Two Counts Dismissed

Boags, 59, was originally charged in January, 1987, with three misdemeanor offenses. Hirsch and Boags’ other attorney, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., persuaded other courts to dismiss two of the charges. He has continued to sit on the bench since the charges were filed, but hears only civil matters. If convicted, the judge could face up to one year in Los Angeles County Jail.