He’s Happy That He Judged the Judge
I read Bettijane Levine’s “Judging the Judges” (April 9) with great interest because I was one of the people that made a large part of it happen. I was the lawyer for the movement to recall Roderic Duncan, the divorce court judge in Alameda County.
That movement involved hundreds and hundreds of men whom Duncan had sliced out of their children’s lives and then hit with top child support just to rub salt in the open wound. There were church leaders, radio announcers, computer engineers--you name it--whom Duncan had taken delight in being brutal with. And they rose from the streets to chop him down.
Bear in mind that you can browse through your own newspaper on any given day and come across statement after observation that, “What these gangbanging kids need is the stability of a father in their lives.”
Here was a judge every day cranking out just the opposite. I’m proud of the fact that I was one of the ones who rose up and said, “No more.”
HENRY JAMES KOEHLER IV
Beverly Hills
*
I am truly appalled by “Judging the Judges.” For Levine to suggest that my retirement had anything whatsoever to do with a decision I made more than five years ago is malicious, blatantly false and hateful.
If I didn’t leave the bench when I was newly appointed and under siege in 1992, why would I feel pressure to resign almost six years later when I was doing exactly what I had become a judge to do: to contribute to the improvement of the juvenile justice system.
To suggest that I resigned under a cloud is outrageous. I could not be prouder of the work I have done as a Juvenile Court judge. I earned the respect and admiration of every one of the attorneys who were assigned to my courtroom and who watched me make hundreds of decisions for almost six years. Just as important, the love and commitment I gave to all “my kids” was returned one-hundredfold.
Those who know me well know that my lifetime commitment to children is not something I intend to abandon. Neither is my commitment to my own child. I do not for a moment consider myself to have stepped down from anything. I stepped up to my obligation to put my child’s needs before my own.
JOYCE ANN KARLIN
Manhattan Beach
Editor’s Note: Judge Karlin turned down repeated interview requests from The Times.
