Former Judge Bradley Dies

Robert C. Bradley, a former presiding judge of the Ventura County Superior Court who was disbarred after a string of alcohol-related arrests, died in his Santa Paula home this week after choking on a piece of meat, authorities said Wednesday.

Bradley, 64, apparently had gone to the kitchen for a snack about 8:30 p.m. Monday. He was found lying on the floor by a caretaker and taken to Ventura County Medical Center where he was pronounced dead at 9:30 p.m., according to the county medical examiner’s office.

Once selected Judge of the Year by the Ventura County Trial Lawyers Assn., Bradley was a respected jurist until alcoholism crippled his legal career eight years ago.

“He treated all parties with respect,” said Michael Bradbury, a former Ventura County district attorney who is now in private practice. “Regardless of the outcome, you felt you had received justice in his courtroom.

“He was a hero -- as a solider, a lawyer and as a judge. Bob was a wonderful guy with a terrible disease.”

Bradbury said he met Bradley in 1964, when they were students at UC Hastings College of the Law. They sat next to each other in classes for three years. At graduation, they were among three people from their class offered jobs with the Ventura County district attorney’s office, said Bradbury, who accepted a position there.

Bradley was called for active duty and served two years as an Army captain in a combat engineering unit, including a tour in Vietnam.

He joined the Ventura County district attorney’s office after his discharge and worked as a prosecutor for several years before going into private practice, Bradbury said.

When Bradbury decided to run for district attorney, he persuaded Bradley to return to county government and upon election in 1979, selected him to be his chief deputy. Bradley held that post until he was appointed a judge.

“Bob was uniformly respected by lawyers, litigants and his colleagues,” said John R. Smiley, Ventura County Superior Court’s current presiding judge.

Bradley was charged twice with driving under the influence within a two-month period starting in December 1997. He was disqualified from the bench after those arrests and was involved in a subsequent string of probation violations. He did not seek reelection in 1998.

At the time, Bradley’s friends said he had been struggling with a failing marriage and the death of his mother.

A psychiatrist who testified on Bradley’s behalf at a hearing before the Commission on Judicial Performance said Bradley began drinking during the Vietnam War to ease his fears and later drank to numb frightening memories of combat.

Leonard Alexander, managing partner of Alexander, Clayton, Morrow and Wilson law firm in Thousand Oaks, hired Bradley as an associate in June 1999. He worked there for about a year, until the office was downsized.

“I knew him as an outstanding judge,” Alexander said. “It was a tragedy to see the problems that happened to his life. We certainly wanted to give him an opportunity.”

He described Bradley as one of the most intelligent and competent judges he had seen in his 44 years as a lawyer.

“You wanted your case to go before [Judge Bradley] because you knew you could get good reasoning and a clear decision,” Alexander said. “He was a gentleman with everybody. Yet he conducted a very good courtroom.”

Bradley was arrested in March 2000 on suspicion of prowling near his Ventura home while intoxicated. He was ordered to serve 34 days in jail for violating the terms of his probation.

In November of that year, he turned himself in to his probation officer for drinking. Shortly after Thanksgiving, Bradley was washing his car outside his home when neighbors called police to complain that he was disturbing them. In December, he admitted in court to twice violating his probation.

In January 2001, the state Supreme Court suspended Bradley’s law license for two months.

Bradbury and Alexander said that Bradley should be remembered for his long and distinguished legal career and not for his battle with alcoholism.