ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Guarantee Fair Play in the Courtroom

A researcher in Orange County Superior Court apparently did more than provide a judge with simple background on legal theory and cases. Imagine the surprise of Deputy Public Defender Allyn Jaffrey when she reviewed a court file recently and discovered a three-page memo that contained a reference to her as “a flaming liberal” and questioned her beliefs on abortion.

The judge for whom the research was done, Orange County Superior Court Judge Hugh Michael Brenner, now clearly has distanced himself from the remarks after originally declining to say anything more than that the memo was prepared by an unidentified researcher. He referred Friday to such material as “garbage,” and said that if it happened again the researcher would be looking for a job. Well and good.

Presiding Orange County Superior Court Judge Donald E. Smallwood, too, acknowledges the offensive nature of the memo and says the researcher in question has been admonished. He said he did not think that sort of offense took place regularly in the courts.

That may be so, but it wouldn’t hurt to be sure.

It seems unlikely that a researcher would profile a public defender in an adversary fashion without at least feeling that a climate of approval existed for the free-lance airing of such opinions. So Smallwood still may have a way to go to address fully the culture of the courts over which he presides.

A message needs to be sent that Superior Court judges themselves, not just the researchers, will be held accountable for such inappropriate material in the future. It shouldn’t have to be said, but it may need to be: Allowing a court file to become a dossier on a lawyer signals that a case is being handled in a prejudicial way.

By the way, Orange County does seem to be having more than its share of unnecessary friction between the bench and the Orange County public defender’s office. The state Commission on Judicial Performance is investigating charges that Santa Ana Municipal Judge Claude E. Whitney routinely denied defendants their constitutional rights during misdemeanor arraignments. The conduct of his supervisor, Santa Ana Presiding Municipal Judge James M. Brooks, is being reviewed as well.

Clearly, courts in Orange County must be perceived as dealing fairly both with the defendants and the lawyers who appear before them.