Former Judge Accused of Showing Favoritism

A retired Orange County judge who was accused by a state panel this week of willful misconduct and partiality will respond to the allegations and expects to be exonerated, his attorney said Friday.

Judge Luis A. Cardenas, 56, is accused by the state Commission on Judicial Performance of releasing nearly a dozen suspects over three years at the request of longtime friend and defense attorney Leonard Basinger. During that time--July 1993 to August 1996--the judge also is accused of altering the sentences of 12 other defendants, again at the request of Basinger or his daughter, Ginger Kelley, also a defense attorney.

According to the commission’s findings, Cardenas “did not disclose [his] social relationship with Basinger and / or Kelley or disqualify himself because of that relationship.”

The report states that Cardenas and Basinger had a 20-year friendship that included family vacations together to Europe. The judge also presided at Kelley’s wedding and advised her as she began her legal career, according to the report.

Cardenas, of Huntington Beach, took action in all 23 of the cases involving jailed suspects, despite the fact that they were not assigned to him, the commission’s report states. Each time, it says, the results were favorable to Basinger or Kelley.

Cardenas, an ex-prosecutor who left the Superior Court bench in 1996, could not be reached for comment Friday. His attorney, Jennifer Keller, said he has until May 2 to respond to the allegations and is confident that after he does, his reputation “as a fair and diligent judge will remain intact.”

Once his response is filed, an evidentiary hearing will be scheduled before the state Supreme Court and the findings returned to the commission for review, said Victoria Henley, a spokeswoman for the state agency. If the allegations are proved, the commission could remove, censure or admonish Cardenas and bar him from sitting in any California court, she said. The process could take six to eight months.