2 New Arrests May End Career of Judge Bradley

Just when it couldn’t get much worse for Judge Robert Bradley, it probably will, according to several legal scholars who have studied other cases of errant judges.

While his two arrests over the weekend again placed the suspended Ventura County jurist on the wrong side of the bench, they also are likely to spell the end of his judicial career and his ability to practice law, some court experts said Monday.

“Once he breaks probation, there’s virtually no way they can allow him to remain a judge,” said Erwin Chemerinsky, a University of Southern California professor who specializes in legal ethics.

A former presiding judge of the Ventura County Superior Court, Bradley has been fighting a state panel’s decision to suspend him. He wants to finish out his term, which ends in December, and then go on to become a temporary judge who works by special assignment with the courts.

But he also stands to become the first California judge removed from the bench in three years, and the first under a set of rules approved by voters in 1994. Under those rules, removal from the bench also would strip the 57-year-old Bradley of his license to practice law.

Bradley remained in Ventura County Jail on Monday on a $100,000 bond stemming from an alleged violation of a court order not to contact his estranged wife Dorothea. He is to be arraigned in that case today and in a probation violation case May 22, according to Ventura County Sheriff’s Sgt. Keith Parks.

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Bradley’s career has been in tatters since his arrests on suspicion of drunk driving in December and January. On March 31, the state Commission on Judicial Performance suspended him with pay, pending a hearing that could occur as soon as June.

His chances of having the suspension lifted--or indeed, of ever returning to the bench--may have taken a turn for the worse last weekend. Bradley was arrested on suspicion of violating probation early Saturday after allegedly getting drunk and breaking into the Ojai home he and his family had shared. Later in the day, he was arrested again after bailing out of jail and repeatedly telephoning Dorothea, according to police.

The judicial commission is likely to view those acts with particular severity because they represent a violation of court orders, experts said.

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In administering probation, the court had ordered him not to drink; the temporary restraining order was aimed at preventing contact with his wife.

“They [the violations] make it easier to remove him because they’re prejudicial to the administration of justice,” said Joan Bohl, a professor at Southwestern University Law School who used to serve as counsel to the judicial ethics committee of the Rhode Island state bar.

“When you’re in violation of a restraining order or a direct order of the court, that’s [interfering with] the administration of justice,” she said. “In many cases, a judge’s personal conduct might be frowned upon but that doesn’t necessarily give us as solid a basis for removing a judge.”

Chemerinsky, the USC ethicist, called the case for removing Bradley “overwhelming.”

He said the drunk-driving convictions alone may not have been decisive, particularly in light of Bradley’s subsequent stays in three rehabilitation programs.

However, the panel would find it tougher to be lenient when it considers his encounters with the law last weekend, as well as a February incident when he showed up at work drunk.

“Even after treatment, there’s such a pattern of violations,” Chemerinsky said. “It’s a tragic situation.”

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Steven Lubet, a Northwestern University law professor and co-author of a standard text on judicial ethics, said removal in such circumstances would not be an unusual step.

“In states across the country, judges have been suspended or removed for less,” he said.

Based in San Francisco, the Commission on Judicial Performance has asked the state Supreme Court to name a three-judge panel in the Bradley case. The panel will recommend to the commission actions ranging from an admonition to outright removal.

If it decides on removal, Bradley would be forbidden to run for a judgeship again. His license to practice law could be reinstated only by the state Supreme Court, according to a spokeswoman for the commission.

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Key Dates in Judge’s Ouster

Dec. 6, 1997--Superior Court Judge Robert Bradley is arrested on suspicion of drunk driving near his home in Ojai.

Dec. 8--Citing his arrest, Bradley announces he will not preside over the high-profile Michael Dally murder trial.

Jan. 3, 1998--Bradley is arrested on a second drunk-driving charge by Santa Paula police.

Jan. 8--Bradley announces he will seek another term, despite two driving-under-the-influence arrests within 30 days.

Jan. 9--Santa Paula police say Bradley had to be restrained from leaving while being booked on DUI arrest.

Jan. 13--Presiding Ventura County Superior Court Judge Charles Campbell relieves Bradley temporarily from the bench. Bradley enters an alcohol-rehabilitation program for second time.

Feb. 4--Bradley does not file for reelection by the deadline.

Feb. 24--Bradley is sentenced to 20 days in jail plus probation on his drunk-driving guilty pleas.

March 17--Bradley is released after serving his term in a Los Angeles County jail.

March 20--The state Commission on Judicial Performance suspends Bradley from the bench, citing his two DUI convictions and his alleged appearance on the job under the influence of alcohol.

March 31--The commission rejects Bradley’s appeal for reinstatement and suspends him pending a hearing later this spring.

April 25--Bradley is arrested in Ojai and Ventura.