Judge Settles Drug Charges, Will Keep Job

The presiding judge of Antelope Municipal Court who was charged with misconduct for alleged dependence on prescription narcotics has settled the case and will remain on the bench, state authorities said Thursday.

The Commission on Judicial Performance agreed to monitor Pamela Rogers for 20 months to settle charges of intemperance and being under the influence of drugs while on the bench. She is also required to submit bimonthly medical reports and attendance records during that time. If she successfully completes that probationary period, the charges will be dropped.

The commission also publicly admonished her for failing to resolve seven cases within the statutory maximum of 90 days.

Neither Rogers nor her lawyer could be reached for comment.

The commission accused Rogers in January of “bizarre conduct,” including appearing to speak to an empty witness stand, slurring her speech, being emotionally unstable and rude and missing work often. The behavior was allegedly the result of taking a number of drugs including Demerol, Inderal and morphine.

Rogers admitted that she had been prescribed narcotic medications for migraines, which her lawyer has described as a postpartum illness. She said she had been treating the migraines with nonnarcotic medications since April 1997. The commission agreed.

It also noted receiving no complaints regarding her behavior on the bench since that time, when she took a leave of absence to complete a four-week residential chemical-dependency program.

“It appears that [Rogers] has remedied the underlying medical problem that gave rise to the present allegations involving her use of medication,” the commission wrote in its admonishment.

Rogers’ lawyer had called the proceedings an attempt by some defense lawyers and possibly a judge to get her off the bench because of personal differences.

In her official response to the commission on the charges, she argued that they violate her civil rights because the medications were prescribed to treat a postpartum illness.

The Americans with Disabilities Act “prohibits the commission from proceeding against [Rogers] based upon her real or perceived disabilities,” her lawyer, San Francisco-based Ephraim Margolin, wrote in court papers filed in February.

The filing of formal charges by the commission--the result of an investigation finding the administrative equivalent of probable cause--is unusual. Only eight of the approximately 1,100 complaints filed in 1996 led to formal proceedings.

Rogers, a former Los Angeles deputy district attorney, was elected to the bench in November 1994.

Her husband, Randy Rogers, is also a municipal judge in the Antelope Valley.