Ex-Judge Censured for Sexual Relationship With Defendant

A state disciplinary panel Tuesday censured retired Pomona Superior Court Judge George W. Trammell III for having a four-month sexual relationship with a criminal defendant while presiding over legal proceedings involving her.

In a 9-0 vote, the Commission on Judicial Performance found that Trammell tried to keep the relationship secret despite the fact that he was presiding over several matters involving the Rowland Heights woman and two other co-defendants, including her ex-husband.

It also found that he used his office to continue the relationship and had numerous private conversations with her in his chambers, at his home and over the telephone.

Efforts to reach Trammell on Tuesday were unsuccessful. He has declined to comment in the past and refused to participate in hearings before the commission’s special masters investigative panel in July. He also refused to respond to the special masters report or to accept the commission’s invitation to respond before it.

The commission’s action means Trammell is barred from receiving assignments, appointments or references for work from any California court. Its decision becomes final in 30 days, subject to review by the California Supreme Court.

In its findings, the commission said: “Judge Trammell committed willful misconduct in office and conduct prejudicial to the administration of justice that brings the judicial office into disrepute.”

Trammell retired in January 1997 after investigators started inquiring about his relationship with the woman. He was a municipal judge from May 1971 to January 1988 and a Superior Court judge until he retired.

Shortly after he left the bench, he described the relationship as amiable but not sexual. He said after retiring that he feared retribution from Chinese mobsters and maintained the relationship as a means of protection.

County prosecutors investigated Trammell last year and did not file criminal charges.

The case involved an affair Trammell allegedly had with Pifen Lo, 37, the wife of Ming Jin, described in a probation report as a gambler with suspected ties to Asian organized crime. Jin and Lo, along with Yu Chang Chu, the live-in baby-sitter of their three children, were arrested in 1995 on charges including kidnapping for extortion, robbery, money laundering and possession of explosives.

In January 1996, Lo pleaded no contest to some of the charges, and Trammell sentenced her to five years probation.

In July 1996, a jury convicted Jin and Chu of kidnapping.