Coming out of the courtroom

Amber Willard

GLENDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE -- Local judges assure their courtrooms are

different than those on television shows like “Judge Judy.”

“No judge would ever say those things. Don’t think that you’ll ever be

treated that way,” said Michael Mink, a Los Angeles County Superior Court

judge in Burbank.

Mink, along with seven other judges and commissioners in Glendale and

Burbank, answered audience questions Tuesday at an event sponsored by the

court system.

Questions ranged from the role of a judge or commissioner to why the

court officials sometimes allow media cameras into their courtrooms.

“Not much of what we do is all that noteworthy,” said Glendale Judge

Laura Matz of the infrequent media requests to take pictures or video

footage inside a courtroom. Another Glendale judge recently allowed a

News-Press photographer to take pictures of a boy charged with the

slayings of two teens on a La Crescenta school playground because the

boy’s picture from a yearbook had already appeared in the newspaper.

Pictures of jurors are never allowed, Mink said.

Other questions were directed at courtroom proceedings, like what

characteristics judges look for in determining if someone is telling the

truth.

“Sometimes it’s pretty difficult. We use the same criteria all of you

would use,” Matz said, adding that she surveys someone’s demeanor, like

if they appear to be nervous, and looks for inconsistencies in their

stories.

To avoid developing prejudice against a suspect, judges do not read

police reports before court hearings, Burbank Judge Alan Kalkin said.

Each judge is autonomous.

“They have total control in their courts,” said Burbank Judge Carl

West, who supervises the jurists in the county’s north central district,

which includes Glendale and Burbank. West reviews the performance of

judges in the district when complaints are received.