Judge Acted Beyond Her Jurisdiction, Prosecutors Allege

A San Fernando judge acted beyond her jurisdiction when she dismissed misdemeanor sentences of probation against defendants who pleaded guilty or no contest to felonies without notifying the city attorney’s office, prosecutors maintain.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office, the agency that prosecutes misdemeanors, filed a series of petitions this week in Los Angeles Superior Court seeking to have San Fernando Municipal Judge Juelann K. Cathey barred from repeating the acts. The petitions also ask that her orders terminating the probated sentences be voided.

“Judge Cathey’s practice . . . may be a good way of clearing the court’s calendar, but it does not serve the interests of justice,” one petition says.

Cathey could not be reached for comment Thursday because courts were in recess for Veterans Day.

The city attorney’s office became aware of the situation Oct. 14, when a court clerk mentioned Cathey’s practices to Deputy City Atty. Norman Wegener, according to one of the petitions.

Then, using a computerized court index to review cases heard in Cathey’s courtroom, Wegener discovered that over a 10-month period, hundreds of “city attorney misdemeanor matters”--including cases originating in Hollywood, Van Nuys and Downtown, as well as San Fernando--had been heard in the division,” that petition says.

Wegener’s review also found “that a large percentage, indeed the vast majority, involved the summary termination of misdemeanor probations . . . without a city attorney present,” the petition states.

In some cases, the petitions allege that Cathey imposed felony sentences that were shorter than the sentences of probation that she dismissed.

In one case, Cathey canceled probation in five misdemeanors for a woman named Debra Satterfield after she pleaded no contest to a pair of felonies, including driving or taking a vehicle without the consent of the owner and receiving or concealing stolen property, according to a petition.

Despite the absence of a deputy city attorney at the court hearing, Cathey also resolved a pending misdemeanor charge against Satterfield--for possessing an opium pipe--by accepting her plea of no contest. The judge then sentenced the woman to 30 days in County Jail, the petition says.

The first petition regarding Satterfield, which was filed Tuesday, acknowledges that Cathey could have imposed the same sentence and terminated the probations had a deputy city attorney been present. But it also contends that a deputy city attorney might have been able to force Cathey to explain her decisions on record.

“Without a prosecutor being present and having an opportunity to be heard, Judge Cathey in effect said: . . . ‘Let’s make a deal. Plead guilty to the felony, and I’ll relieve you of all possible future criminal liability on all your outstanding misdemeanors,’ ” that petition states.

By law, such petitions must be filed within 30 days of the time the misdemeanors were dismissed. However, prosecutors contend that the petitions seeking to void Cathey’s decisions are still valid even though they do not meet the 30-day requirement because the city attorney’s office was unaware of Cathey’s actions until mid-October.

Municipal Court judges typically hear only misdemeanor cases, while their Superior Court counterparts handle felonies. But in January, in an effort to clear up a backlog of felony criminal cases, Municipal Court judges began accepting pleas in felony cases.