Judge Aguilar Gives Up His Court Cases

U.S. District Judge Robert Aguilar, convicted of leaking wiretap information and lying to the FBI, has elected to immediately relinquish his cases, Chief Judge William Ingram said Thursday.

Ingram said Aguilar called him shortly after jurors announced their verdict Wednesday and said he had decided to surrender his remaining 70 civil cases currently pending in the San Jose trial court.

Aguilar gave up more than 300 criminal cases after his indictment in 1989.

Ingram did not comment directly on the trial for corruption and obstruction of justice involving Aguilar, but he did characterize as “nonsense” Aguilar’s defense assertion that the government had targeted him for ouster because he was a liberal judge.

“It is my personal opinion that was nonsense,” Ingram said.

Ingram said the entire two-year episode involving the indictment and trial of a federal judge “has caused great embarrassment and very, very great distress.”

“This court has been a shining light, the mother court of California, and has never before had a breath of problem,” Ingram said.

Aguilar, 59, will continue to receive his $96,500-a-year salary unless he is removed by Congress.

Without Aguilar as a trial judge, the Northern California courts are badly understaffed.

A 2-year-old vacancy created by the semi-retirement of U.S. District Judge Robert Peckham has languished in Congress. The appointee may be confirmed by October, Ingram said. U.S. District Judge William Schwarzer took a post in Washington and his seat will not be eligible for filling until 1991. A third judge, John Vukasin, will be unavailable for the next two months because of back surgery.

The judges have caseloads of more than 300 cases each.