Judge Allegedly Threatened Wife, Prosecutor

During a conversation with the county’s presiding judge earlier this year, suspended Judge Robert C. Bradley reportedly discussed his estranged wife’s relationship with another man and remarked that “maybe I ought to blow them both away.”

The statement was made in court chambers two days after Bradley’s second drunk-driving arrest in January, according to documents filed by the state Commission on Judicial Performance.

And it is expected to be part of the evidence presented next week before a three-judge panel whose findings could keep the embattled jurist from ever hearing a case again.

On Wednesday, Bradley was released from custody after serving four months in County Jail for a string of alcohol-related offenses.

Although scheduled to immediately enter a six-month alcohol treatment program, the 57-year-old jurist was granted a one-week postponement by the sentencing judge so he could attend next week’s hearing.

“The court is allowing Mr. Bradley to straighten out some personal matters, one . . . being his judicial performance hearing,” said Dan Gude, a Santa Barbara County probation officer.

Bradley plans to stay at a friend’s house until the end of the hearing, Gude said. In the meantime, he must submit to daily alcohol screening tests administered by local authorities.

Over the last year, Bradley has been arrested six times for various offenses stemming from his struggle with alcoholism and the dissolution of his marriage.

Now he faces nine counts of misconduct, including two drunk-driving convictions and allegations that he showed up to work under the influence of alcohol, failed to do his job and habitually used alcohol.

The hearing, which begins Monday at the state Court of Appeal in Ventura, marks the first time a Ventura County judge has faced formal proceedings on charges of misconduct.

“It’s an evidentiary hearing, not unlike a civil proceeding,” said Victoria Henley, director and chief counsel for the Commission on Judicial Performance.

Superior Court judges, Dist. Atty. Michael D. Bradbury, and court officials have been subpoenaed to testify at the proceedings, which are expected to last at least two days.

At the hearing’s conclusion, the panel of judges will take the matter under submission and then make recommendations to the state commission, Henley said.

The panel is made up of two appellate judges, one from Fresno and the other from San Diego, and a Superior Court judge from Contra Costa County. The commission is made up of six members of the general public, three judges and two lawyers. It is chaired by a former Los Angeles federal judge.

Bradley faces a spectrum of possible penalties, including public or private admonishment, censure for unprofessional conduct or removal from office. Although his judicial seat has already been filled by the election last month of Kevin J. McGee, removal from office could bar Bradley from ever hearing cases as a temporary judge.

Hearing Caps Turbulent Period

Temporary judges are used across the state to handle ever-increasing caseloads. Retired jurists are paid a daily rate of $397 by the state’s judicial council, based in San Francisco.

Next week’s hearing caps a turbulent period for Bradley, a former chief criminal deputy district attorney who was appointed to the Municipal Court in 1983 and the Superior Court in 1985.

Bradley was arrested Dec. 6 of last year for drunk driving after a CHP officer saw him run a stop sign near his Ojai home. His blood-alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit for driving.

A month later, on Jan. 3, Bradley was arrested for the same offense in Santa Paula. During a field sobriety test, he allegedly asked officers if they knew who he was, according to commission documents. “You asked them not to continue with the tests and to drive you home because it would ruin your career,” the documents state.

Bradley pleaded guilty to both drunk-driving charges. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail and placed on probation. He served his time at a Los Angeles County jail and was released in mid-March.

But on April 25, the judge broke the terms of his probation by getting drunk and taking a cab to the home of his estranged wife, Dorothea. He broke into the house by prying open a window with a knife and, according to the commission’s charges, threatened to kill his wife when she asked him to leave.

Bradley was arrested and ordered to stay away from her. Within hours, however, he violated the order by calling her five times. The judge was rearrested. He later pleaded guilty to some misdemeanor charges and others were dropped.

In May, after details of the April incident were made public, Bradley again broke the terms of his probation by drinking at a Ventura bar and riding a bicycle back to his sober-living house while intoxicated. He crashed, attracting the attention of a Ventura police officer, who arrested him.

Bradley was subsequently admitted to a 90-day alcohol treatment program in Prescott, Ariz. But he dropped out July 21 and returned to Ventura.

Fearing Bradley might again be drinking, probation officers went to the motel where he was staying to check on him. During that visit, officers learned Bradley had indeed been drinking alcohol and he was arrested on another probation violation.

In August, Santa Barbara Municipal Judge Denise de Bellefeuille told Bradley, “You’re ill, very ill,” and ordered him to immediately begin serving his jail sentence, followed by six months in a treatment program.

In addition to evidence about Bradley’s prior convictions, the judges presiding over his inquiry next week are expected to hear testimony about threatening statements he allegedly made about his wife and a male friend, prosecutor Miles Weiss.

According to the nine-page notice of charges filed by the state commission, Bradley made a threatening remark while talking about his wife with Presiding Judge Charles W. Campbell Jr. two days after Bradley’s January arrest.

1996-97 Incidents May Be Discussed

Campbell came to Bradley’s chambers to assess his condition on the judge’s first day back at work, documents said. During that meeting, Bradley allegedly made a statement “to the effect of, ‘maybe I ought to blow them both away.’ ” The notice also details a February conversation between Bradley and courts Executive Officer Sheila Gonzalez in which the judge, who was allegedly intoxicated at the time, told Gonzalez he had left a threatening message for Weiss on his voicemail at the district attorney’s office.

Three days later, according to the commission’s documents, Campbell met with the judges and decided to bar Bradley from the courthouse because he was considered a security risk.

The panel may also hear evidence about two incidents in 1996 and 1997 in which Bradley allegedly used his judicial position to get deputies to drive him home when he was drunk.

Campbell and Gonzalez have both been issued subpoenas. So has Bradbury, who was not available for comment but who confirmed that he received one. Campbell has been ordered to appear by both the commission’s attorneys and Bradley’s lawyer, who did not return calls for comment.

“I probably have information both sides want to get out,” Campbell said of his scheduled appearance. “I’m just waiting to see what happens. I’d like to think I could be a good witness.”

Gonzalez confirmed that other members of her court staff have also been ordered to appear. She said the entire process has stirred up a mixture if emotions.

“A lot of people are very, very saddened that this has taken place and that they are having to participate,” she said. “We wish it wasn’t so. But you don’t work in a courthouse and not play by the rules.”