Judge Corral Intervened for Son, Records Show : Ethics: He ordered the release of the young man, who had been arrested for drunk driving. A state agency is already investigating whether the jurist acted improperly on behalf of another son.

The presiding judge of the Los Angeles County Juvenile Court last year went to the Whittier police station in the middle of the night and hastily scribbled an order to release his son, a well-known jockey who had been arrested on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, court records show.

By using his judicial authority, Judge Jaime Corral avoided posting $500 bail for his son or letting him remain in jail for six hours, the standard time Whittier police hold drunk-driving suspects before releasing them on their own recognizance. Police said they had no choice but to comply with the order.

Corral’s son, James, then 24, had been arrested 90 minutes earlier and had told police he had been drinking with actors Sylvester Stallone and Walter Matthau and Los Angeles Raiders defensive end Howie Long. He later pleaded no contest to the charge and was ordered to attend an alcohol rehabilitation program.

Judge Corral’s actions surface at a time when the California Commission on Judicial Performance, the state agency that investigates allegations of judicial misconduct, is probing whether he intervened inappropriately in a juvenile case involving his younger son, Daniel, who was convicted two years ago of driving while intoxicated.

The inquiry began last month, after The Times reported that Corral twice contacted Los Angeles County Probation Department officials, first to have the youth sent to Juvenile Hall and then to seek his release. The article cited interviews and documents, including a court report in which a deputy questioned Corral’s actions, saying his son might get the idea that the judge was trying to “use his influence to pull strings.”

Corral had not become the presiding judge at the time of his contact with probation officials. He took the job in January, 1990, the same month that his older son, James, was arrested.

The judge, who has repeatedly declined comment about the case involving his younger son, did not return calls this week regarding the case involving James Corral.

According to experts in legal ethics, the written order to release James Corral raises new questions about the judge’s conduct off the bench.

In the case involving his younger son, ethics experts say that Corral, as a father, was entitled to talk to probation officials about the case--as long as he did not give the appearance that he was using his office in an attempt to influence them. Experts say judges are clearly barred from ruling on matters involving relatives, as Corral did at the Whittier police station.

“A judge ought not to be making decisions in areas where he has such a great personal interest,” said Michael Josephson, a former law professor who founded the Joseph & Edna Institute of Ethics. “He certainly could not have sat as a judge in a hearing involving his own child.”

The Canons of Judicial Ethics, adopted by the California Judges Assn., say that judges “should not allow their families, social or other relationships to influence their judicial conduct or judgment.” The judicial performance commission has disciplined judges for violating this canon, and also for acting in cases not pending before them in court.

According to records on file in Whittier Municipal Court, James Corral was stopped at 1:40 a.m. Jan. 9, 1990, in Whittier after police saw him run a red light while driving his 1985 Chevrolet Blazer at “an unsafe speed.”

The younger Corral, now 26, has been racing horses since 1987, when he took a leave of absence from UCLA to pursue a career as a jockey. Locally, he has raced at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita racetracks. He is now racing at Longacres Racetrack near Seattle. He could not be reached for comment.

On the night of his arrest, Corral told Whittier Police Officer Randy Inman that he was on his way home from the Forum in Inglewood, where he said he had been drinking with Stallone, Matthau and Long. Stallone is a former racehorse owner and Matthau is a racing fan.

A breath test showed that Corral’s blood-alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, court records show. Shortly after 2 a.m., he was booked on suspicion of driving while under the influence of alcohol. While at the police station, he used his alloted telephone call to phone his father.

The watch commander on duty that night, Lt. Don Hannah, said that when the elder Corral arrived, he asked how he could get his son released.

Hannah said he outlined the three options available to all drunk driving suspects: They can wait the required six hours, post bail (currently set at $500) or obtain an order from a judge.

At that point, the judge wrote the order. Bearing the time 3:35 a.m., it states: “I hereby order that James Corral be released on his own recognisance (sic) pending his arraignment in Municipal Court.” It is signed “Jaime Corral.”

Hannah said the police had no choice but to release the judge’s son.

“Legally, the judge has the right to do that,” Hannah said. “If he chooses to (order the release), that’s what we do. It’s an order of the court.”

According to sources close to the case, Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner’s office filed a complaint against Corral with the Commission on Judicial Performance. Although Assistant Dist. Atty. Dan Murphy confirmed that his office has referred a case involving Corral to the commission, he would not discuss the substance of the complaint.

The Times filed a request under the California Public Records Act for the complaint, but it was denied. A spokeswoman for the district attorney said the office would have no comment on the case involving James Corral.

The commission, composed primarily of judges and lawyers, is empowered to impose a wide range of discipline on judges who violate the Canons of Ethics, from private admonitions to recommendations of removal from office.

Because the commission’s investigations are confidential, it rarely discusses its work in public. Peter Gubbins, an investigating attorney for the commission, declined comment when asked about Corral.

Two weeks ago, Gubbins was in Los Angeles to interview employees of the county probation department. According to two probation department employees, Gubbins questioned them about the juvenile case involving Daniel Corral.