Hard-Line Judge Charged With Judicial Misconduct

A Monterey County judge whose hard-line policy on drunken driving has stirred controversy since his election last year was charged with misconduct Monday by the state Commission on Judicial Performance.

Municipal Judge Jose Angel Velasquez is accused of violating standards of judicial conduct with his sentencing practices in misdemeanor drunken driving cases, the commission said.

He also was accused of publicly disparaging other judges and certain lawyers, allowing his name and title to be used in an advertisement supporting a political cause and displaying a crucifix in his courtroom.

Many prosecutors have disqualified him from their cases, according to a March profile in the San Francisco Daily Journal. Some defense lawyers have removed him from drunken driving cases because of his sentencing practices, which he announces in advance.

Velasquez sentences first-time drunken drivers to 31 to 45 days in jail, compared to a five-day average for other local judges, the newspaper said. They also must attend 30 Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. The sentences are approximately doubled for second offenders and doubled again for third offenders, to 180 days.

Velasquez, 37, practiced law in Salinas for 11 years, specializing in personal injury suits and criminal defense, before running successfully for the bench in June 1995.