Judge Gave Indications of Suicide

Before he shot himself in a park, a judge who had been accused of child molestation called the allegations a “bombshell” that would destroy him, according to excerpts of his suicide note obtained by The Times.

“Such an accusation, once made, is indefensible,” Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge L. Jeffrey Wiatt wrote in a letter authorities found in his Valencia home before he committed suicide Feb. 10. “Once arrested, as a judge, my career and life is over.”

On Feb. 9, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a marital disturbance at his home. Wiatt’s wife, who has declined all requests for interviews, said Wiatt was suicidal over the impending breakup of their marriage, said Capt. Raymond H. Peavy of the sheriff’s homicide bureau, in a written statement.

Once deputies arrived, the veteran judge -- who appeared calm and rational -- talked them into letting him drive away.

“He didn’t show signs of mental distress,” said Lt. Andy Ramirez, head of the sheriff’s crisis response team dispatched to the judge’s home. “He told us he would not hurt himself.”

In an interview Friday, Ramirez said deputies left Wiatt’s home thinking: “We saved a life that day. He didn’t kill himself that day.”

“For us, that was a success,” Ramirez said.

Deputies did not learn of the suicide letter until after they let Wiatt drive away.

Deputies said they handled the case properly and professionally and did not afford Wiatt any special consideration because of his judicial position.

Wiatt, 61, once presided over high-profile murder cases at the San Fernando courthouse. The child sex abuse allegations and his suicide sent shock waves through the Los Angeles legal community.

A former prosecutor for the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office as well as a private criminal defense attorney, Wiatt also once served as chairman of the juvenile justice committee of the California State Bar.

On Feb. 9, after negotiators arrived, Wiatt made it clear that he would not let them into his house.

“We did not have a duty to enter the house except to make a life-saving effort,” Ramirez said. “No crime had been committed. If we went in, it would create a confrontation and a potential suicide by cop.”

“We thought a change in his environment would be better,” Ramirez said. “This would give him time to think about it. The decision was to allow him to leave.”

The deputies agreed not to stop Wiatt as he drove away. The decision was made collectively, with a Santa Clarita station watch commander having the final say, Ramirez said.

The judge also refused all offers of mental health help, but he agreed to leave his gun in the home, Ramirez said.

The Sheriff’s Department does not have any specific policy mandating that a suicidal suspect be taken into custody or that a mental health evaluation be sought, especially when the person is at home, Ramirez said.

“The criteria is they must be a clear danger to themselves or gravely disabled,” he said. “He’d made a statement to a third party. He wouldn’t be interviewed and wouldn’t talk about the suicide. If he had come out and talked about the suicide we’d have been able to make a [mental health] assessment.”

A subsequent investigation indicated that “he and Mrs. Wiatt were experiencing increasing marital difficulties and that Judge Wiatt alluded to suicide as recently as two weeks prior to that date,” according to Peavy.

In addition to alluding to the child sex abuse claims, the judge’s letter expressed his hopelessness and despair over “an extended history of marital disharmony” as well as “the apparent failure of counseling,” according to Peavy. On Feb. 10, the Sheriff’s Department was notified that Wiatt had driven away from his home with a gun. By using a commercial anti-theft device on the judge’s car, deputies followed him to Towsley Canyon Park in Stevenson Ranch.

“Sheriff’s investigators finally managed to contact Judge Wiatt on his cellphone that afternoon, expressing their concern for his safety,” according to a statement signed by Peavy. “Judge Wiatt denied any inappropriate conduct but admitted he was in possession of a handgun and was still considering suicide.”

The judge then hung up and put a gun to his head as deputies watched from afar.

They found his body slumped next to his car.