Panel Rebukes Newport Judge for Favoritism

Calvin P. Schmidt, Orange County’s longest-sitting judge, was publicly scolded by state judicial authorities Thursday for giving preferential treatment to a wealthy friend’s stepdaughter and making improper campaign contributions. But he was cleared of doing legal favors for a prostitute.

The action by the Commission on Judicial Performance appeared to mark the close of the sex and influence scandal that has embroiled several judges for more than two years at Harbor Municipal Court in Newport Beach.

In sharply worded criticism, the San Francisco-based judicial watchdog agency announced that Municipal Judge Schmidt, 59, had “undermined public

confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”

Only two of the judges--Schmidt and Municipal Court Judge Brian R. Carter--were targeted in formal disciplinary proceedings. Similar allegations against Carter, 63, were dropped by the commission after he retired from the bench in February.

Schmidt hailed his vindication on some of the allegations and said that contrary to a news report, he has no plans to retire. His current six-year term ends in 1992.

“This exoneration by my judicial peers ends what has been for me the most painful time both professionally and personally in my 23-year career as a judge and community servant,” he said in a prepared statement.

Schmidt’s lawyer, H. Warren Siegel, said the scandal was “a real trauma” for Schmidt because he is “a man dedicated to his community.” He is active in the charitable organizations of Hoag Hospital and the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce. He is also national director of the Girl Scouts of America.

In its action against Schmidt, the commission chose what is considered to be one of the mildest forms of discipline it has available. It declined several tougher punishments, including recommendations that the state Supreme Court censure the judge, remove him from office or disbar him.

But Deputy Atty. Gen. Roy Hewitt, who presented the case to the commission, said the action still carries a strong message.

“The message is clear that some of his conduct is not to be condoned or practiced by other judges,” Hewitt said.

When asked if the public can be assured it may trust Schmidt’s integrity, Peter Gubbins, the commission’s investigating attorney on the case, would only say, “I think the public can have confidence that the system as a whole works properly.”

Glenn A. Mahler, presiding judge of Harbor Municipal Court, praised Schmidt.

During his years of judicial service at the Harbor Municipal Court, Schmidt has gained “an outstanding reputation with the legal community as a fair and honest jurist,” Mahler said. “We are pleased that Judge Schmidt will continue as a judge of the Harbor Municipal Court and as the senior judge in Orange County.”

Most of the commission’s two-page ruling dealt with the way Schmidt handled the 1988 case of Terri Ann McMullen, stepdaughter of longtime friend Robert Guggenheim of Newport Beach.

McMullen, 28, was arrested twice on cocaine charges. Twice Schmidt called detention officials and ordered her freed on her own recognizance, despite another judge’s order that she be held on bond and despite her failure to appear in court between her first and second arrests.

“The obvious and sole reason for Judge Schmidt’s actions was his friendship with McMullen’s stepfather,” the commission wrote. “Judge Schmidt’s (recognizance) releases of McMullen were arbitrary and capricious exercises of (his) judicial discretion and undermined public confidence in the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary.”

The commission found that Schmidt acted “in patent violation” of the judicial canon of ethics when he contributed money from his own campaign to candidates for political office, including former Democratic state Sen. Paul Carpenter of Cypress. The judicial canon of ethics limits the amount a judge may contribute to political candidates.

The panel, however, found no evidence to support the allegation that Schmidt offered to reinstate the driver’s license of convicted prostitute Della Christine Johnson in 1984 in exchange for a promise of sex. She told police that Carter called her later and collected on that promise by having sex with her, an allegation Carter denies. But the commission said it heard no evidence on the alleged exchange of sexual favors and determined that the “case disposition was not unusual.”

The commission also rejected an accusation that Schmidt intervened on behalf of a friend whose marriage ceremony he had performed, using his influence to help the friend obtain a plea bargain in a criminal case.

Public criticism was added to the commission’s array of disciplinary possibilities this year under a constitutional amendment. Reprovals, which rank in severity between private admonishments and public censures, have been given to two judges so far, including Schmidt.

The judge said he still believes that based on the information he had on McMullen, he acted in good faith when he released her. But he added that he “accepts the commission’s finding that my decision might have given the public the impression of a lack of impartiality on my part.”

The judge he said accepts the commission’s findings on his political contributors but said he still believes he acted legally and “did not knowingly violate” judicial ethics.

Times staff writer Dan Weikel contributed to this story.