Judge’s Fate Will Soon Be Decided

When Varooj Abramian went to Municipal Court late last year to resolve a traffic ticket, he unwittingly presented insurance documents that misspelled his first name.

Smelling a fraud, veteran Commissioner Dona Bracke did what she had routinely done since last November: She contacted the defendant’s insurance company, which compounded the typo by providing incorrect information to the court.

Bracke ordered the 55-year-old Burbank resident arrested on the spot on suspicion of perjury, for which he spent three days in jail. “I was very angry and scared,” Abramian said. “I went to court to pay a ticket, and the next thing my wife and kids knew, I was calling from jail.”

Abramian is one of dozens of alleged minor traffic offenders who have been arrested on suspicion of perjury, or similar but lesser offenses, in Bracke’s courtroom since last November, when she began her one-judge crackdown on apparent violators of the state’s newly stiffened proof-of-insurance laws.

Her defenders say she is merely following the letter of the law, but some lawyers and judges say Bracke has overstepped her legal authority.

The phone calls, some of which Bracke made herself, resulted in complaints alleging judicial misconduct. The former Los Angeles County deputy district attorney was placed on paid administrative leave from her $96,696-a-year post in August by Presiding Judge James Simpson.

The results of an investigation, conducted by retired Superior Court Judge Peter Smith, were delivered to Simpson on Friday. He is expected to decide Bracke’s fate this week after consulting with the other two Glendale Municipal Court judges.

According to Glendale Municipal Court officials, a majority vote of the three judges is required for a commissioner to be removed. That hasn’t happened in Glendale in at least 20 years, officials said.

“She’s stripping people of their confidence in our judicial system,” said Ralph Greer, a Pasadena attorney representing Abramian and another client, who have filed federal lawsuits against Bracke alleging civil rights violations.

Bracke did not respond to numerous interview requests. In court testimony, she has said she had documents examined for authenticity only after she had decided on the defendant’s guilt or innocence in the citation offenses.

“There are certain documents that have glaring mistakes or, you know, that are pretty easy to determine that they’re not correct, true insurance documents,” Bracke said on the witness stand in a June preliminary hearing for a perjury case that originated in her courtroom.

Bracke testified that she or her bailiff would call insurance companies or ask defendants if there were any additional documents that might clarify the situation, and sometimes the defendant would confess and apologize.

Bracke said defendants had lied about having valid car insurance to avoid a newly enacted $1,350 fine for first-time offenders, according to court documents and police.

Dozens of the defendants whose documents allegedly were falsified were arrested immediately on suspicion of perjury or the lesser offense of presenting fraudulent documents to the court. In Abramian’s case and at least one other, however, the charges were thrown out when the insurance companies were found to have provided incorrect information when phoned by the court.

Lawyers said such phone calls, when placed before a decision is rendered, constitute ex parte communication, which can result in unsworn testimony and deny defendants the opportunity to cross-examine the parties.

Proper procedure called for Bracke to base her rulings in the proof-of-insurance cases solely on the evidence presented in court, said Lawrence Solum, a professor of law at Loyola Law School.

“Judges have to decide on the basis of evidence, not suspicions or emotions that lead to investigating,” Solum said. “Even if she thinks her decision is going to be wrong, she has to decide on the evidence presented in front of her.”

Bracke’s supporters say she was merely interpreting the law to the letter. “I don’t believe what she was doing was wrong,” said Glendale Police Officer Jeff Neal.

Critics, including a Superior Court judge, describe her actions as “offensive” and “rather shocking,” and some have demanded her removal from the bench.

Other judges have dismissed several of the cases, but many are still pending.

Bracke took the stand in a case involving Alma Ocegueda, a 40-year-old mother of six from North Hollywood who spent three days in jail, feared deportation and paid a $3,000 fine after Bracke found her guilty of driving without car insurance, according to court documents. It was dismissed by Pasadena Superior Court Judge Terry Smerling.

“She stepped out of her role--way out of her role as a bench officer and became a de facto prosecutor,” Smerling said, according to court transcripts. “I find what transpired in the Municipal Court to be rather offensive. I also found Commissioner Bracke, to put it gently, less than forthright; rather shocking, actually, the nature of her testimony here.”

But, said Neal, the Glendale police officer, “If she doesn’t [check out the statements], then who does?”

Neal and Officer John Gilkerson were put on a task force to investigate the referrals and arrests that originated in Bracke’s courtroom beginning last November. Neal said the increased number of cases was a result of the stiffer fine.

Since January 1997, drivers without insurance have faced a fine of $1,350 for the first offense, $2,700 for the second and as much as $5,400 the third.

Such perjury cases have cropped up “because people are trying to beat the fines for false insurance,” said Los Angeles Deputy Dist. Atty. Lonnie Felker.

Gilkerson estimated Bracke had about 50 people arrested on perjury-related suspicions.

Abramian appeared in Bracke’s courtroom after being cited for ignoring a right-turn-only sign, having expired car registration and driving without insurance.

When Abramian presented his documents, Bracke accused him of lying and manipulating his papers, he said. Bracke fined him $2,800 and sent him to jail.

Police said Abramian’s case is an anomaly. Many people entering Bracke’s courtroom bring illegitimate forms, Neal said.

“When we first started, you wouldn’t believe what was being handed to the court,” Neal said. “These things looked pretty hokey, like someone had printed them out at home. That’s what started the phone calls.”

Commissioners are hired to work as judges to handle cases ranging from traffic and small claims to major civil matters.