Orange County Judge Under Fire to Resign : Carter Allegedly Granted Defendants Preferred Treatment

Orange County Municipal Judge Brian R. Carter, who has been under investigation by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for allegedly giving preferential treatment to defendants in his courtroom and accepting favors from prostitutes, has submitted his resignation, it was learned Monday.

Judge Russell A. Bostrom, who until two weeks ago was presiding judge in the Harbor branch of Orange County Municipal Court, said Carter told him Monday that he would resign as of Feb. 19.

Bostrom, who said Carter gave him no reason for his resignation from Harbor Court, declined to comment on whether the state investigation played any role in the decision.

A source close to Carter told The Times that Carter sent a letter to Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday tendering his resignation. The commission, which generally operates in almost total secrecy, announced in October that it would hold formal hearings on allegations against Carter and Municipal Judge Calvin P. Schmidt, who is facing similar accusations. Schmidt also is a judge at Harbor Municipal Court.

Carter, 62, was first placed under investigation by the Newport Beach Police Department and the Orange County district attorney’s office in 1984 when he was overheard in a tape-recorded phone conversation arranging a rendezvous with a prostitute.

In another taped conversation, Carter agreed to help a former client and golfing partner who phoned him after being arrested on drug charges.

The commission has announced no date for its hearings on the allegations against Carter and Schmidt, and commission officials have said no decision has been made on whether the hearings would be made public.

Carter could not be reached for comment Monday night. His wife said she had no comment on her husband’s resignation. Carter’s attorney, Byron K. McMillan, also declined to discuss it.

Denied He Would Resign

Late last week, Carter vehemently denied rumors that he planned to resign.

Carter has denied any wrongdoing in connection with any of the allegations against him. But he has refused to discuss any of the details of those allegations.

The 1984 investigation began after Della Christine Johnson was arrested by Fullerton police on suspicion of prostitution. She told police after her arrest that she was an acquaintance of Carter and that he had hired her as a prostitute.

She also said she had performed an act of prostitution in exchange for a debt owed to Schmidt.

In statements later filed in court, Johnson said she had been told that Schmidt would fix a traffic ticket for her in exchange for sex, and that she agreed. But when it came time to pay off the judge, she said, Carter called her and said he was going to collect the debt.

Schmidt has refused to comment.

In 1987, a former client and golfing friend of Carter, Jeffrey John Harbison, called Carter from the Newport Beach City Jail and told him he was being held on suspicion of possession of cocaine and needed the judge’s help.

Carter, in a taped conversation, told Harbison that he would do what he could.

Harbor Court Judge Selim Franklin later told The Times that Carter called jail officials and arranged to have Harbison’s bail reduced from $25,000 to $5,000.

Carter also has been accused of giving preferential treatment to Harbison and his girl friend, Susan Marsha Edwards, in the handling of several traffic tickets.

The handling of Edwards’ traffic tickets reportedly created friction between Carter and Harbor Judge Susanne Shaw after Carter allegedly had a bailiff retrieve tickets from Shaw’s court and bring them to his courtroom. Shaw allegedly complained about the incident to other judges.

Although the state Commission on Judicial Performance refuses to discuss details of its investigations, sources say the panel’s inquiries into Harbor Court go beyond just Carter and Schmidt.

Bostrom reportedly is under investigation because of a meeting he had with Newport Beach city officials in which he and Franklin are accused of trying to apply pressure to end a police investigation of Carter and Schmidt. Bostrom has denied any wrongdoing in connection with his dealings with city officials.

The commission has the authority to privately admonish a judge, ask the state Supreme Court to publicly censure him or her, or ask the high court to remove a judge from the bench.

Carter was appointed to the Harbor bench in 1982 by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr.

He was in private law practice before that.

Sources say that the state Commission on Judicial Performance received complaints about Carter several years ago but backed away from an investigation after learning that the district attorney’s office was conducting its own inquiry.

But apparently more than a year ago, county prosecutors decided that they had insufficient information to file any criminal charges against Carter. The commission then asked for the county prosecutors’ investigative files and the prosecutors complied.

Sources close to the district attorney’s investigation said that its investigators had difficulty getting cooperation from some witnesses, including prostitutes and some people accused of attempting to peddle influence in Harbor Court.

Bostrom’s only comment on Carter on Monday was: “As his presiding judge for 2 years, I can certainly confirm that he was a very hard-working judge. I think that’s about it, really.”

Schmidt’s only public comment so far has been: “I hope I am a very good judge. I hope I am a fair judge. Let’s get it all out in the open (by having the state judicial commission hearings).

Carter has said in interviews with The Times that the publicity over the investigation upset him greatly at first, but that he has since grown numb to it.

“It’s like getting shot,” Carter said. “It hurts when the bullet enters, but after they’ve taken it out the trauma settles down.”

On Friday, Carter told The Times that he had no reason to resign and that he intended to fight whatever charges were raised against him at the formal commission hearing.